Maryland state prosecutor says complaints rose sharply while charges fell in 2025

Scott Benson, presenting the Department of Legislative Services operating analysis, told the Senate Public Safety, Transportation, and Environment Subcommittee that the Office of the State Prosecutor (OSP) saw a marked rise in complaint activity in fiscal 2025.

"OSP received 1,712 criminal conduct complaints in fiscal 2025," Benson said, an increase of 690 complaints, or 67.5 percent, compared with the prior year. He told the committee the fiscal 2027 allowance for the office decreased by about $51,000 to roughly $5.1 million and that DLS had identified two proposed deficiencies totaling about $158,004.57 in general funds to cover personnel shortfalls and a rent increase.

Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard told lawmakers the office remains small and selective in its jurisdiction, saying, "We only have six full‑time prosecutors, including myself, to handle cases throughout Maryland." He described the office's focus on political corruption, official misconduct and election law, and highlighted a special victims unit created in 2024 to handle allegations involving people in positions of trust.

Howard described the SAUSA (special assistant U.S. attorney) arrangement that the state helps fund through a grant: "While we administer the grant for the SAUSA lawyers, we do not manage these attorneys on a daily basis, and they are not assisting on our cases. They're exclusively focused on violent crimes," he said, adding that the prosecutors paid through the grant are detailed to the U.S. Attorney's Office for operational assignments.

Benson and committee members pressed OSP on what DLS described as an unusual pattern: the special victims unit received 77 complaints in fiscal 2025, up from 58 the prior year, but "no cases led to charges being filed in fiscal 2025 compared to three cases in fiscal 2024," Benson said. DLS asked OSP to explain why the unit's investigations in 2025 did not lead to charges and whether that pattern is expected to continue.

Howard responded that many special‑victim investigations take longer because of forensic needs and trauma‑informed approaches: "These cases take a long time to investigate given the need for forensic evidence from computers, cell phones, and other devices," he said, and emphasized the office's work with victims to secure services and outcomes even when a criminal filing is not pursued.

DLS also noted that OSP's staffing mix included 18 regular positions making up 63 percent of spending and 13 contractual positions, some supported by a governor's grant partner. Committee members asked OSP to clarify when additional grant‑funded positions would be reflected in the fiscal allowance and to describe expected caseload trajectories to avoid backlogs.

The subcommittee did not take any formal action on the budget during the hearing; OSP provided written testimony and agreed to follow up with details on the status of grant‑funded positions and on factors that kept the number of formal charging decisions low in 2025.