NATIONAL BRIEFING / MARYLAND

Maryland granted a new safeguard to its most downtrodden residents, becoming the first state to extend hate-crimes protection to homeless people.

Lawmakers point to cases like the one in south Baltimore in 2001, in which a group of young men embarked on what a judge later described as a “systematic cleansing” of homeless men in their neighborhood.

The bill signed by Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley adds homelessness to the protected categories under the state’s hate-crimes law, which allows prosecutors to seek tougher penalties for those who target people because of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.