IN BALTIMORE, murders are up and convictions are down. You read that correctly: Even as the city has gained the dubious distinction of having the nation's highest big-city murder rate, prosecutors say that conviction rates in homicide cases are falling. The main cause is that, increasingly, witnesses will not cooperate or testify, often because they are afraid. And no wonder: Since last September seven witnesses have been shot or murdered -- a rate of about one a month. Other cases have been dropped for the same reason, not only in Baltimore but also in Prince George's County. This venomous trend, says the chief state prosecutor in Baltimore, Patricia C. Jessamy, "threatens to bring justice to a standstill."
The state is taking a step in the right direction -- albeit a small step -- by stiffening penalties for witness intimidation and making it slightly easier for prosecutors to introduce hearsay testimony at trials when scared (or dead) witnesses will not or cannot appear. The question is whether more can be done. One proposal is to beef up resources for existing witness-protection measures, such as funds to put up witnesses in hotels or to pay their security deposits if they move. But the fact is that a fund for that purpose in Maryland, administered by the State's Attorneys' Association and replenished by court costs charged to defendants, already seems to provide all the money needed; the fund has never been depleted, and no state's attorney requesting a grant from it has been turned down.
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Another idea, which would require the allocation of more money and organizational attention, is to create a program that attempts to replicate on the state level what the federal government does nationally to protect witnesses (usually from the mob): give them new identities and permanent new homes, possibly out of state. That approach would require help from federal authorities, but it may gain appeal as threats and violence against witnesses become the norm in some neighborhoods that combine high crime and low income.
Still, the brainstorming of lawmakers may run aground on cultural realities. Well over half the witnesses in Baltimore who are offered assistance turn it down. Many of them, criminals themselves, prefer to go underground or wait out the threat -- anything to avoid the appearance of cooperating with the authorities, even if it means risking their lives.
Perhaps police and prosecutors should take their cue from a DVD that made the rounds in tough inner-city neighborhoods a few months ago, warning people in violent terms to "stop snitching" to the cops. NBA star and Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony was seen in the video, though he later disavowed its message. Mr. Anthony, who plays for the Denver Nuggets, and other popular local figures, such as rap artists and movie stars, should be urged to make themselves available for a new series of videos encouraging people to help clean up their own neighborhoods by helping send bad guys to prison.
Sound futile? To the contrary: What could be more futile than having police and prosecutors spend time and money pursuing murderers only to see them go free because witnesses slip from their grasp?
