Charlotte Crutchfield (born December 8, 1963) is an American politician from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. She is a Democratic member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

who currently represents Maryland House of Delegates District 19 in Montgomery County.

Early life and career

Crutchfield was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

on December 8, 1963. She attended Howard University, where she earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in economics in 1986, and the

Boston College School of Law Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 studen ...

, where she earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1989. She was an assistant

state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

for Montgomery County from 1991 to 1992. She also served as an associate

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

at Gulfstream Aerospace from 1996 to 2002. Crutchfield is a practicing attorney in the area of employment law. Crutchfield first ran for the House of Delegates in 2014, coming in fourth place with 15.7 percent of the vote. She expressed a "very strong interest" in running again in 2018, eventually filing to run on January 10, 2018. She came in second place in the Democratic primary election, receiving 17.6 percent of the vote.

In the legislature

Charlotte Crutchfield was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 9, 2019. She, along with Jheanelle Wilkins and Pamela Queen, became the first Black women elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates. On May 20, 2020, Crutchfield wrote a letter to Governor

Larry Hogan Lawrence Joseph Hogan Jr. (born May 25, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 62nd governor of Maryland since 2015. A moderate member of the Republican Party, he was secretary of appointments under Maryland governor Bo ...

urging him to grant clemency to Eraina Pretty, the longest-serving female prisoner in Maryland, after she tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Crutchfield wrote, "Though she was convicted of a violent crime, she is not a violent person. There is no reason to believe that if Ms. Pretty were released she would pose a danger to society." A Baltimore circuit judge granted the release of Pretty on December 14, 2020.

Committee assignments

* Member, Judiciary Committee, 2019–present (family law subcommittee, 2019–2020; public safety subcommittee, 2019–2020; chair, juvenile law subcommittee, 2020; member, civil law & procedure subcommittee, 2021–present; chair, family & juvenile law subcommittee, 2021–present)

Other memberships

* Secretary, Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, 2019–present * Member, Maryland Legislative Transit Caucus, 2019–present * Member, Maryland Veterans Caucus, 2019–present * Member, Women Legislators of Maryland, 2019–present * Member, Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus, 2021–present

Personal life

Crutchfield is a military widow. She has two children and lives in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

Political position

Criminal justice

Crutchfield introduced legislation during the 2021 legislative session that would allow individuals convicted of

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

as minors to have their convictions reviewed. During the 2019 legislative session, Crutchfield introduced legislation to create a separate, pre-release mediation unit for women in the state prison system. She introduced legislation during the 2021 legislative session that would repeal the prohibition on prosecuting

sexual crimes Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

against a victim who is the spouse of the assailant. The bill passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 125-4. The bill was re-introduced during the 2022 legislative session, during which it passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 125-6 and the Senate by 46-0. Crutchfield introduced legislation during the 2022 legislative session that would allow

hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

victims to bring civil action against the person who committed the act. The bill passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 94-41.

Marijuana

During her 2018 campaign, Crutchfield said that she would vote to legalize recreational marijuana. During her first term, Crutchfield co-sponsored various bills to automatically expunge legal records related to marijuana possession.

Electoral history

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crutchfield, Charlotte 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American state legislators in Maryland Living people Maryland lawyers Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates People from Silver Spring, Maryland Women state legislators in Maryland 1963 births 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women