FOR YEARS, Larry Nassar sexually abused female athletes under the guise of medical treatment while serving as the doctor for USA Gymnastics. Nassar was eventually convicted on multiple felony charges and sentenced to more […]
Courts
Posted inCriminal Justice
Study finds not prosecuting misdemeanors reduces defendants’ subsequent arrests
A STUDY EXAMINING the effect of declining to prosecute lower-level nonviolent offenses — a signature policy adopted by Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins that has drawn both praise and scorn […]
Posted inUncategorized
Fattmans challenge OCPF investigation as biased
WORCESTER COUNTY REPUBLICAN power couple Ryan and Stephanie Fattman are arguing that the director of the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance is acting improperly in his investigation of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Pandemic has laid bare inequities in legal system
ON MARCH 18, 1963, in the landmark case of Gideon v. Wainwright, the United States Supreme Court established the right to counsel across the nation. Since that moment there has been an ongoing […]
Posted inUncategorized
House passes DCF transparency bill
LOOKING TO ADDRESS longstanding concerns about the state’s child welfare system, the Massachusetts House on Monday passed a wide-ranging bill to improve operations at the Department of Children and Families, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
A reckoning for prosecutors in drug lab scandal?
THE JANUARY 2013 drug arrest of disgraced Massachusetts state chemist Sonja Farak and its impact on thousands of drug cases was widely reported as it unfolded, and memorialized to devastating […]
Posted inUncategorized
Religious school faculty not exempt from anti-discrimination laws
A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE cannot classify all its faculty as “ministers” if they do not have explicitly religious duties, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Friday, in a decision that could have a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Former rep David Nangle pleads guilty to misusing campaign funds
FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVE David Nangle pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court to using his campaign funds to pay for extensive personal expenses, then crafting schemes to cover up his spending. Nangle […]
Posted inUncategorized
Healey, feds sue over alleged immigration bond scam
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey and two other state AGs joined the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its first major watchdog action under the Biden administration, accusing an immigration bond provider of predatory […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Why are Latinos so overrepresented in the state child welfare system?
LAST MONTH, workers from the state Department of Children and Families knocked on the door of Raquel, an El Salvadoran immigrant living in Worcester. DCF had gotten an anonymous call about a fight between her husband and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge denies injunction to cut prison population
A SUPERIOR COURT judge denied a preliminary injunction that would have required the state Department of Correction to make specific efforts to further reduce its prison population in light of […]
Posted inUncategorized
SJC takes up local control of marijuana licensing
OFFICIALLY, THE STATE licenses marijuana businesses. Practically, local municipalities are the gatekeepers. The requirement that cities and towns negotiate host community agreements with marijuana establishments has led to alleged outright […]
Posted inPolitics
Trump leaves, but the chaos sown remains
DONALD TRUMP will be the first president in more than 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, jetting off this morning to Florida in a denialist huff about his […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
A ban is not a plan
THE MASSACHUSETTS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT has reminded us that we are not going to ban our way to social justice and public safety. The SJC on December 15 declared that […]
Posted inEconomy
SJC says Uber agreements with riders unenforceable
THE AGREEMENT UBER users must sign before registering with the ride-hailing service – the detailed fine print listed under “terms and conditions” – is not binding in Massachusetts because it is not provided […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC says ‘three strikes’ law doesn’t bar probation
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ruled that some defendants convicted under a section of an eight-year-old law focused on delivering stiff justice to repeat offenders can instead be placed on probation […]
Posted inEconomy
Maura Healey signs onto lawsuit against Google
A WEEK AFTER she signed onto a multi-state lawsuit against Facebook, Attorney General Maura Healey now has Google in her sights. On Thursday, Healey announced that she had signed on to a lawsuit […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC pans state panhandling law
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Tuesday overturned Massachusetts’s anti-panhandling statute, concluding that it unconstitutionally abridges free speech. Massachusetts state law prohibits a person from signaling or stopping a car for the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Senate bill would aid crime victims and witnesses with visas
THE STATE SENATE on Monday advanced a bill that would require state agencies and local law enforcement offices to assist immigrants who testify in criminal cases or are victims of human trafficking and domestic […]
Posted inOpinion
SJC got Baker emergency orders case right
THERE ARE AT least two important takeaways from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Desrosiers v. Governor, in which the court upheld Gov. Charlie Baker’s authority to issue emergency […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Former state police troopers charged in overtime scheme
TWO FORMER State Police troopers were arrested Friday for a years-long overtime scheme, which allegedly allowed them to embezzle thousands of dollars in overtime pay, according to US Attorney Andrew Lelling’s […]
Posted inEconomy
Healey signs onto anti-Facebook lawsuit
MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey has signed onto a massive lawsuit against Facebook that has the potential to restructure one of the country’s biggest and most powerful technology companies. Healey […]
Posted inUncategorized
SJC considers Healey’s demand for Facebook documents
MASSACHUSETTS’S HIGHEST COURT will decide whether Attorney General Maura Healey can demand internal information from Facebook to investigate whether the company misused users’ personal data. In March 2018, news outlets […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Death of Fall River boy puts DCF in spotlight again
THESE FACTS ARE clear, according to the police: David Almond, a 14-year-old autistic boy, and his twin brother Michael, also autistic, were horribly neglected in the home where Almond’s father […]