A protest last week outside a Salem courthouse featured a refrain made familiar by the scholarly legal eagles who regularly populate the president’s rally, where they apply only the most […]
Courts
Posted inUncategorized
Globe sues ex-employee over sex harassment claims
THE BOSTON GLOBE filed suit Friday against a former reporter and editor to compel her to release the full text she said the paper’s editor, Brian McGrory, sent to her […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Involuntary commitment of drug users wrong approach
MASSACHUSETTS IS AIMING to tackle the opioid crisis head on. On Friday, the Joint House and Senate committee dealing with substance abuse is set to move forward on major legislation […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
DA races drawing candidates and attention
Back in December, when the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts launched a voter education campaign targeting the state’s district attorneys, it seemed like a long shot. After all, races […]
Posted inThe Download
DA races drawing candidates and attention
Back in December, when the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts launched a voter education campaign targeting the state’s district attorneys, it seemed like a long shot. After all, races […]
Posted inUncategorized
Sinning in the workplace
Judge Thomas Estes asked the Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday to penalize him for having extramarital sex with a court employee but not to take his job away permanently. David […]
Posted inThe Download
Sinning in the workplace
Judge Thomas Estes asked the Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday to penalize him for having extramarital sex with a court employee but not to take his job away permanently. David […]
Posted inThe Download
Could Boncore become sleeper in crowded DA race?
The open race for Suffolk County district attorney is attracting a crowd, with five Democrats already in the hunt and several others still mulling a run for the post, which […]
Posted inUncategorized
SJC justices mull millionaires’ tax
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT justices peppered lawyers with questions on Tuesday morning on an appeal challenging a proposed state ballot question to raise taxes on high earners, with judges repeatedly questioning […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
DAs differ on expense approaches
AS A GROUP, the 11 district attorneys in Massachusetts are not big spenders when it comes to dining out or traveling on the state’s dime. But within the group, there […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Debating immigration policy on Beacon Hill
IMMIGRATION REFORM isn’t part of the criminal justice reform bill House members will begin debating today, but Republican lawmakers want it to be. Maybe they’re right and it should be […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC blocks local detentions for ICE
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE LAW DOES NOT permit officials to detain immigrants solely at the request of federal immigration officials, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Monday, putting up a […]
Posted inPolitics
Progressive politics from the ground up
Photographs by Frank Curran STATES’ RIGHTS HAS a long and ugly history in this country. The phrase has often served as code for the segregationist Jim Crow policies that southern […]
Posted inThe Download
Gerrymandering goes to court
Get ready for what may be the granddaddy of all redistricting court cases. Massachusetts takes pride in the many great things it has given to the country, from the first […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Let’s rehabilitate moms, not lock them up
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, I met Sylvia, a smart, talented mother with dreams – like most moms – for her family, despite experiencing homelessness. Formerly in prison for a non-violent drug […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Mandatory minimum drug sentences costly mistake
SUPPORTERS OF MANDATORY minimum sentences for drug crimes are circulating a set of disconnected talking points on Beacon Hill that obscure the real issues. The debate is heating up as […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Codcast: Probation, patronage, and power struggles
Patronage, no matter how blatant or unsavory, is not a crime. At least that’s what a federal appeals court ruled recently in overturning the convictions of former Probation commissioner Jack […]
Posted inHealth Care
Death of a cancer lab
FEW PLACES HAVE the resources and brain power to match Boston when it comes to biomedical research, including the search for effective ways to treat and prevent cancer. Internationally renowned […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Finneran loses pension appeal
THE STATE’S HIGHEST COURT has rejected an appeal by former House speaker Thomas Finneran to reinstate his pension, saying the one-time legislative leader’s lies during testimony in a federal lawsuit […]
Posted inPolitics
Healey sues Trump
MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey on Tuesday sued President Trump over what she called his “startling and chaotic” executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying the act violated […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
A Massachusetts freedom agenda
THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION election unleashed forces of racism, sexism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and authoritarianism that, we now know, have been simmering just beneath the surface of the collective American polity. But […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
AG aide wins 5-3 vote for judgeship
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE First Assistant Attorney General Christopher Barry-Smith received confirmation Wednesday for a Superior Court judgeship despite strong opposition from gun rights advocates. The Gun Owners Action League […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Gants launches study of racial disparities in incarceration
THE STATE MUST confront racial disparities in imprisonment rates and move to “reimagine” a flawed criminal justice system to focus less on incarceration and more on lowering recidivism, Supreme Judicial […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Crime and punishment
Nobody thinks teenagers should be carrying guns on the streets of Boston. Jail may be the best—or only—way to deal with many of those carrying and shooting guns there. But was it the right thing to do in this case?