IS IT POSSIBLE to maintain a fierce urgency to reduce gun violence in Boston, while also taking stock of how much worse things could be and being grateful for the […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
Mass. should embrace 21st century gun control measures
MASSACHUSETTS HAS BEEN a progressive leader in common-sense gun control. The Commonwealth requires permits for gun purchases, maintains an assault weapons ban, restricts magazine capacity, and mandates universal background checks […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
School discipline comes to light after arrest
A HORRIFIC CRIME in New Hampshire has cast a harsh light on the North Andover school district where a victim of sexual assault was warned to avoid her attacker and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education
Is the college admissions scandal really shocking?
THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS AND BRIBERY SCANDAL is riveting, side-glance worthy, but definitely not shocking. The back door and side doors described by the instigator of the college admissions scandal have […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Dialing up the road safety debate
ROOTED IN ONE of the most abominable facets of the nation’s past, racial profiling remains a risk today for drivers of color. At the same time, the havoc caused by […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Should ‘lifers’ get a chance for parole?
SOME BEACON HILL LAWMAKERS are making another push for legislation that would allow the 1,050 Massachusetts inmates serving life prison sentences to be eligible for parole hearings. Rep. Jay Livingstone […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Michael Cohen in the spotlight
ONE OF THE MOST DRAMATIC episodes in the entire saga of criminality surrounding President Donald Trump played out before a rapt audience on Wednesday as Michael Cohen described his former […]
Posted inGambling
Why a $20m fine looks like a Wynn win
WYNN RESORTS WAS HIT with $20 million fine yesterday by Nevada casino regulators, by far the largest sanction ever handed down there — and the company’s honchos were probably high-fiving […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Task force weighs raising juvenile court age
FERNANDO WILLIAMS was just 14 when he entered the juvenile justice system. Eleven years later, he’s gone through both the Department of Youth Services and, starting at 19, the Middlesex […]
Posted inThe Download
Racial incidents making headlines
We’re on day 52 of 2019, and a string of racial and xenophobic incidents across the Commonwealth are making headlines. The Brockton Enterprise has identified an Easton woman involved in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
New rules on solitary confinement coming under fire
LESS THAN A YEAR ago, Gov. Charlie Baker signed two comprehensive criminal justice bills that were the result of a marathon of bipartisan discussions over many years. The laws contained […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Law bars most immigrants from carrying self-defense spray
IT ISN’T EVERY DAY that a college student’s research leads to a bill being filed in the Massachusetts Legislature. But that’s exactly what happened when research conducted by Tony Tan, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker should make immigrant licenses part of road-safety agenda
IN MASSACHUSETTS, thousands of immigrant families risk being separated every time they get in their cars to drive their children to school. In a state where most people believe that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC weighs appropriate penalty for supplying heroin
HEROIN KILLED ERIC SINACORI, a 20-year-old University of Massachusetts Amherst student, who was found dead by his parents when they visited from New Jersey in October 2013. A medical examiner […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
The life (and death) stories that drive Andrea Campbell
ANDREA CAMPBELL’S TWIN BROTHER Andre died seven years ago while awaiting trial in the custody of the state Department of Correction, and she says that has everything to do with […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Rollins takes office with reform agenda
RACHAEL ROLLINS, who has broken barriers throughout a two-decade legal career, cracked another one on Wednesday as she became the first woman to serve as Suffolk County district attorney and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
New civics law should spur study of race and urban violence
THE STRENGTHENED MASSACHUSETTS civics standards for schools that was signed into law last month may well contain an unexpected benefit that will bolster the core of the state’s democracy: It […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Rollins brings mandate for change – and blunt style – to Suffolk DA’s job
RACHAEL ROLLINS DEFIED expectations when she rolled to a decisive victory this fall in the race for Suffolk County district attorney. She won a five-way Democratic primary, outpacing a field […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Trump the criminal justice reformer
EFFORTS TO REFORM the US criminal justice system have been characterized by an alliance of unlikely bedfellows, with liberal groups like the ACLU joining with Right on Crime, a conservative […]
Posted inOpinion
Benjamin LaGuer deserves a break
IT HAS BEEN SAD to see news updates on opposition to long-time Massachusetts inmate Benjamin LaGuer’s bid for a compassionate release because he has liver cancer and only months to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
BPD commish shows his blue colors
WILLIE GROSS’S weekend Facebook post may have received lots of “likes” from law enforcement compatriots, but it stirred a lot of unnecessary ill will in a city that has been […]
Posted inPolitics
From boy wonder mayor to defendant
JASIEL CORREIA was in full performance mode earlier this year when he was interviewed by CommonWealth contributor Ted Seifer for this profile in the magazine’s spring issue. The mayor of Fall […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC dismisses thousands more drug cases
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THOUSANDS MORE drug convictions tied to testing done by criminal chemist Sonja Farak and the former state drug lab in Amherst will be dismissed after the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘I’ve done nothing wrong,’ declares Correia
AN UNSHAVEN JASIEL CORREIA, arrested by FBI agents earlier in the day, was led into a federal courtroom in Boston on Thursday afternoon in leg shackles and handcuffs, dressed in […]
