MASSACHUSETTS’ INCARCERATED population has been declining for several years. As a result, we now have the lowest overall incarceration rate in the US, and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections has recently announced the closure of one of its state prisons – MCI-Cedar Junction. Although it is important to celebrate milestones like the prison closure and […]
Sandra Susan Smith
Posted inOpinion
SJC takes big step backward on racial justice
IN SEPTEMBER 2020, the Supreme Judicial Court released three landmark rulings which, taken together, placed the judiciary front and center in the fight for racial justice. Commonwealth v. Long lowered the burden for proving a police traffic stop was racially motivated; Commonwealth v. Evelyn noted that nervous and evasive behavior by Black males can no […]