MASSACHUSETTS SPENDS MORE than $1 billion a year to incarcerate roughly 13,000 people in its state prisons and county houses of correction, but a lot of the details of that […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC suspends judge for inappropriate touching
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Wednesday suspended Judge Paul Sushchyk without pay indefinitely after finding that Sushchyk grabbed the butt of a court employee at a court-sponsored event, then lied […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Correction Department denies unsafe conditions at Bridgewater
THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Correction is disputing the findings in a report that said the agency has refused to address pervasive mold and the potential for asbestos exposure at Bridgewater […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Commission calls for limiting police use of facial recognition technology
A LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION is recommending strict new curbs on the use of facial recognition technology by the police, including requiring a warrant and limiting its use to investigating felony crimes. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Markey endorses Arroyo in Suffolk DA contest
WHEN IT COMES to winning the support of the state’s US senators, Ricardo Arroyo can now claim a twofer. A week after Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorsed his run for Suffolk […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
What to do with the state’s half-empty prison system
MASSACHUSETTS IS POCKMARKED by a web of correctional facilities, 484 buildings in total with nearly 10 million square feet of space among them. Picture the Hancock, the Pru, the Boston […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
State correction officer charged with having sex with inmate
A FORMER state correction officer pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of having sexual relations with an inmate. Charlotte Ferro, who worked at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, was arraigned […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
A steep fall for Cannon-Grant
FOR MONICA CANNON-GRANT, the limelight has proved to be a decidedly double-edged sword. The long-time Black Boston activist rocketed to prominence amid the country’s racial reckoning of recent years. It […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House leader questions implementation of criminal justice law
THE TOP HOUSE lawmaker on criminal justice issues is accusing the Baker administration of “outright resistance” to implementing the state’s criminal justice reform law. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Michael Day, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Tsarnaev again faces death penalty, but support for capital punishment dropping
IT’S PROBABLY THE highest profile capital punishment case in the country. And while it was an administration in Washington led by a Democratic president opposed to the death penalty that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
THE SUPREME COURT reinstated the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, in a split 6-3 decision. The decision was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. The three liberal justices […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Shifting narrative on report on traffic stops
WHEN THE LEGISLATURE passed a law banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving, a major concern voiced by lawmakers was that it would be enforced disproportionately against Black […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
New Bedford Light calls out silence on health care exec story
WHEN FOUNDERS OF the New Bedford Light announced plans a year ago to launch a new nonprofit news site to cover the South Coast, they pointed to the desperate need […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC says Springfield mayor’s powers on policing have limits
SPRINGFIELD MAY BE one of the Massachusetts cities with a “strong mayor” form of government, but the mayor’s extensive powers over city government are not unlimited powers. That was the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
We need to strengthen Mass. hate crimes law
FEBRUARY 23, 2020. On this date, two years ago, three men stalked and murdered Ahmaud Arbery because they didn’t think a Black man belonged in the neighborhood. This date resonates […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Criminal justice goal should be eliminating ‘systemic racialization’
BOSTON IS APPROACHING an unusual opportunity to create a bold program of police reform: the leaders of police and prosecution will be coming into their new positions at about the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Hate crimes up slightly in Mass. in 2020
THE NUMBER of hate crimes in Massachusetts increased slightly in 2020, with a larger percentage related to racial and ethnic bias, according to a new report issued by the Executive […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Rollins reforms loom over Suffolk DA race
RACHAEL ROLLINS’S name won’t be on the ballot this year, but her approach to prosecution in Suffolk County may end up being front and center. Rollins – both by personality […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Compassionate response to 911 calls with social workers makes sense
IN OCTOBER OF 2016, Boston police officers shot and killed Terrence Coleman, a 31-year-old South End man who suffered from schizophrenia and paranoia, after Coleman’s mother called 911 to have […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Governor’s Council commutes sentences of two men convicted of murder
THE GOVERNOR’S COUNCIL on Wednesday voted unanimously to commute the sentences of two men convicted of first-degree murder, Thomas Koonce and William Allen, sealing the deal on the first commutations […]
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 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care
Pervasive mold plagues state hospital for mentally ill detainees
PERVASIVE MOLD AND the potential for exposure to asbestos are endangering the health of individuals confined at Bridgewater State Hospital, according to a new report, leading to renewed calls to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Hayden eschews labels, vows to ‘do the right thing’ as DA
KEVIN HAYDEN says the heightened attention in recent years to racial bias in the criminal justice system or ways that the most punitive outcome in a case isn’t always the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Souza-Baranowski prison to introduce officer-worn body cameras
SOME CORRECTION OFFICERS at Souza-Baranowski prison will begin wearing body cameras this summer, under a new pilot program being launched by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. […]
