$8 million in state funding to help witnesses in Baltimore isn’t being spent

Eight million dollars in state funding to help relocate witnesses and victims of crime in Baltimore over the past three years hasn’t been spent due to a bureaucratic standstill between the governor’s office and city prosecutors. The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, which receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state annually, in 2019 sought and received additional funding to assist victims and witnesses from the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services. The $2 million would more than double its existing budget for victims and witnesses, and was to be re-upped each year after being spent down.