Police unions and individual officers are trying hard to save what’s left of the 40-year-old Quinn Bill with mixed success. Budget woes forced lawmakers to cut what was once a […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Advice to the Governor: Criminal justice overhaul is overdue
Click here for more advice for the governor Massachusetts’s criminal justice system is big, broken, and expensive. Our prisons are overcrowded and our young people continue to do harm to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Taking his reform elsewhere
Massachusetts Corrections Commissioner Harold Clarke is leaving after just three years on the job to become the director of Virginia’s prison system. The departure was so sudden that it prompted […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, Transportation
Tracking the truth
Click here for a timeline of what MBTA officials knew and when they knew it. Also see a suit by the MBTA, a private briefing for legislators, and correspondence involving the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Firefighter follies
By Michael Jonas There was already so much to stir public outrage in an arbitrator’s decision last month to award Boston firefighters a 19 percent raise over four years. Today’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Holding on tight and not letting go
By Jack Sullivan Judging from comments House Speaker Robert DeLeo made to The Republican of Springfield, it doesn’t appear there’s any appetite in the Legislature for reining in the autonomy […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics
Courts “functionally disabled” due to cuts
Budget cuts have created a “functionally disabled judiciary” that strains the lives of families and the operations of Massachusetts’ businesses in real and immeasurable ways, according to a panel of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Patrick probation proposal not included in House budget plan
By Bruce Mohl The House budget plan is not expected to include Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal to move the state’s probation service out of the judiciary and into the executive […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education
Boarding school behind bars
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Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Carr and Braude sing the same tune
By Bruce Mohl Howie Carr and Jim Braude are about as far apart on the political spectrum as you can get, but both of them are singing the same song […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Probation officials oppose takeover, say ‘patronage works’
Top Massachusetts probation officials today urged lawmakers to reject a Patrick administration proposal that would move their agency out of the judicial branch of government and into the executive branch, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
The tug-of-war over probation
The Massachusetts probation service, a treasure trove of nearly 2,200 state jobs, is at the center of a three-way tug of war between the governor, the judiciary, and the Legislature. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Judges to Patrick: Hands off probation
Two top state court officials say they oppose Gov. Deval Patrick’s “radical proposal” to wrest control of the probation department and warn that budget cuts proposed by the governor would […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Hail to the chief
Margaret Marshall ushers me down a series of hallways, turning on lights as she goes. It’s nearly 5 p.m. on the 10th anniversary of her appointment as chief justice of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Probation head responds to reports of excessive spending
john j. o’brien, the reclusive state commissioner of probation, is coming out of his shell. Faced with two reports suggesting that spending at his agency is excessive, O’Brien is suddenly […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care
The big picture
Indiana paramedic Tom Arkins remembers the days, not too long ago, when he’d be called to an elderly person’s home and find a giant box of medications on the bedside […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Mass. had steepest drop in imprisonment rate in 2008
According to new data from the Department of Justice, the number of people "under correctional supervision" in the US hit 7.3 million at the end of 2008, an increase of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Bay State sheriff defends his right to bill inmates
The Standard-Times reports on Supreme Judicial Court arguments around Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's practice of charging inmates $5 a day for his hospitality. Lawyers for a prisoners' rights group […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Willie Horton Doctrine guides Bay State governors
Micheal Blanding writes in this week's Boston Globe Magazine that "The Long Shadow of Willie Horton" has put an end to the commutation of prison sentences in Massachusetts, regardless of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care, Politics
Boston health inspectors ease up on eatery grades
The city of Boston is doing away with failing grades for most of the restaurants that don’t measure up on health inspections. Thomas Goodfellow, assistant commissioner of the health division […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Three strikes in two states
Juxtaposition of the day: The Massachusetts Legislature considers "Melissa's Bill," a three-strikes-you're-out law targeting violent criminals, as reported in the Patriot Ledger. And National Public Radio reports that three-strikes laws […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Are Boston shootings getting drowned out by rain?
The seemingly unending rainfall in Boston has put a damper on lots of fun outdoor doings. Might it also be washing out some activities no one would be sorry to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Southern NE, Hawaii have fewest gun victims
The Violence Policy Center yesterday released a ranking of the states by frequency of deaths by firearms. The gun control group concludes states with tougher laws against firearms, such as […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Statistically significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster bay state farms get fruitful and multiplyAre “buy local” campaigns helping to preserve the state’s small farming sector? New data from the US Department of Agriculture […]
