We’ve seen the benefits of raising the age to 17 — a 48 percent reduction in juvenile arrests and a 67 percent drop in the arrest rates of 18- to 20-year-olds, according to data from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Now it’s time to go further.
criminal justice
Posted inTransportation
MBTA employee indicted 6 years ago pleads guilty
An MBTA EMPLOYEE who was indicted and suspended six years ago for leveraging his job as a buyer to solicit kickbacks and illegal gifts pleaded guilty on Monday and was sentenced to a year in jail and required to pay restitution of $37,860. Timothy Dockery of Plymouth pleaded guilty to 13 charges related to misuse […]
Posted inOpinion
My Jewish faith spurs me to back prison moratorium
JEWISH PEOPLE all over the world recently celebrated Rosh Hashanah, our New Year. As a rabbi, this is a time where I support my community in making teshuvah – a process of repentance and self-transformation that serves as a kind of annual accounting and restoration to the best, holiest versions of ourselves. Judaism teaches that […]
Posted inOpinion
Two Thomas decisions declare ‘war on innocence’
TWO SUPREME COURT opinions written by Justice Clarence Thomas and issued in the past month, Shinn v. Ramirez and Jones v. Hendricks, look like routine attacks on the Warren Court’s protections for criminal defendants. In fact, they declare a war on innocence. Shinn decided two Arizona capital cases. In one, the victim’s time of death excludes the defendant […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Calling it a ‘no-brainer,’ Healey recommends 7 for pardons
GOV. MARUA HEALEY proposed seven people for pardons on Thursday and indicated she is just getting started. The move by Healey attracted attention because most governors put off acts of clemency until the end of their time in office. Healey’s office said her pardons are the first by a Massachusetts governor during a first year […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
To address police recruit shortage, raise standards
POLICE DEPARTMENTS across the Commonwealth and around the country are concerned about declining numbers of qualified recruits. The Boston Globe reported two months ago that the number of officers who have “voluntarily resigned from the Boston Police Department in recent years ballooned from zero in 2018 to 36 last year, a trend that is exacerbating […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Rollins resigning as US attorney
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE RACHAEL ROLLINS, a former Suffolk County prosecutor who quickly rose in political prominence and often drew the ire of Republican lawmakers, will resign her role as US attorney for Massachusetts this week because “her presence has become a distraction,” her attorney said. Rollins’s attorney, former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich, […]
Posted inTransportation
Ex-Keolis official accused in $8m commuter rail fraud
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A FORMER TOP OFFICIAL at Keolis Commuter Services pleaded not guilty to a slew of federal charges Wednesday after prosecutors alleged that he and another man working for a Keolis vendor stole more than $8 million from the company that operates the MBTA’s commuter rail system. Prosecutors accused John Pigsley, 58, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
In quest to improve policing, time is on our side
IN THE WORLD of policing, what do waiting for nature to call to a drunken – and disruptive – Red Sox fan, taking a measured approach to car stops, and calmly engaging someone who is illegally selling loose cigarettes all have in common? They use the resource of time to achieve a desired outcome with […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
The problem isn’t just a few bad apples
Now we learn that Inspector General Glen Cuhna, who once seemed ready to pin a massive state drug lab scandal on a lone chemist, Annie Dookhan, actually referred four other lab workers for prosecution. Interesting. Still, counting the number of “bad apples” shouldn’t distract us from the reality that the Massachusetts lab scandals were not the work of […]