SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY Rachael Rollins said on Monday that her office is withdrawing a motion seeking a steep increase in bail for a homeless defendant whose original bail was […]
criminal justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
DA seeks bail increase after learning nonprofit fund would pay it
IN A MOVE that reform advocates call an alarming turn away from the effort to reduce the role of bail in the criminal justice system — a movement her own […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Bail fund now facing heat
CAN THE EFFORT to right the wrongs of the criminal justice system go too far? That’s the argument coming from liberal-leaning prosecutors after the arrest on new charges of a convicted […]
Posted inThe Download
Bail fund now facing heat
Can the effort to right the wrongs of the criminal justice system go too far? That’s the argument coming from liberal-leaning prosecutors after the arrest on new charges of a […]
Posted inOpinion
Cape and Islands DA officials take umbrage
Below are two columns submitted separately to CommonWealth in response to an op-ed written by Ricardo Brandon Rios on Joseph Kennedy III. The first is by Michael Kelley and the […]
Posted inOpinion
Kennedy walked the walk in DA’s office
I HAVE SEEN some recent statements and articles criticizing Joe Kennedy III for working as a prosecutor for Republican District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, suggesting his work there indicates he is […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
ICE seeks OK to resume courthouse arrests
THE IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS Enforcement agency on Wednesday asked an appellate court to lift a temporary injunction and allow agents to resume making civil arrests of undocumented individuals in and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Costly connections
AFTER 10 YEARS behind bars, Jurrell Laronal looks back and remembers calls to his partner and stepchildren as one of the few things that kept him sane while bouncing between […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge Joseph loses bid to toss charges against her
SUSPENDED NEWTON District Court Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph and retired court officer Wesley MacGregor will face trial on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice after US District Court Judge […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
6 lawmakers named to conference committee on police reform
TWO MEMBERS of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus will be part of the group that will hammer out differences between the House and Senate versions of police reform legislation. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House approves police reform bill on 93-66 vote
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AND ON THE third day, after sessions that ran for a collective 35 hours, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a sweeping police reform and accountability […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Police reform: Big momentum, little time
WITH THE END OF the legislative session fast approaching, the House and Senate are trying to hammer out a bill dealing with police reform. In the wake of George Floyd’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Legislature must seize the opportunity for ‘expungement’ reform
BRYAN STEVENSON, the renowned attorney and civil rights activist, says that “each one of us is more than the worst thing we have done.” This is especially true for adolescents. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
While tackling police reform, don’t ignore crucial bills on immigrant rights
MASSACHUSETTS AND THE nation are reckoning with their racist past during a devastating pandemic where blacks and Latinxs are twice as likely to die from COVID-19. But, any efforts addressing racial equity […]
Posted inThe Download
Groups seek to add immigrant driver’s license authorization to police bill
As the House gathers testimony on a policing reform bill passed earlier this week by the Senate, S.2820, some immigrant and worker groups are calling for the legislation to add language […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Collins faces heat over vote on policing reform bill
WHEN THE VOTE finally came in the wee hours of Tuesday morning on a vigorously debated police reform bill, the measure easily cleared the state Senate by a 30-7 margin. But […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate passes police reform bill in marathon session
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE SENATE OVERCAME a difficult rollout and several false starts to pass a far-reaching reform of policing in Massachusetts on Tuesday that would ban chokeholds, limit […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate must not back down on police reform bill
THE POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY and racial justice legislation being debated by the state Senate has been held up over several days by a few, with loud voices, who feel that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Here’s how we can build better police departments
PROTEST MARCHES AND disturbing headlines on officer practices have cast a harsh spotlight on US police departments. As painful as recent events have been, this is also an opportunity for […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate deliberations on policing reform bill stall
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A FAR-REACHING proposal to enhance oversight of police officers and ban the use of certain types of force hit a bump on Thursday when Senate Republicans […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate prepping its own police reform bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE plans to vote Thursday on a wide-ranging police reform bill that would create a process for certifying and de-certifying officers and impose new […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
As Massachusetts reopens, prisoners remain isolated
AS MUCH OF MASSACHUSETTS continues to reopen, the same loosening of restrictions is not present at the state’s prisons. Many inmates continue to live in lockdown-like conditions, as the Department […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Substance use treatment changing at Plymouth prison
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is removing correctional officers and expanding treatment programming at the troubled prison facility in Plymouth used to treat men civilly committed for substance use. The shift in […]
Posted inOpinion
The phrase ‘criminal justice system’ has to go
IT IS BECOMING increasingly clear that we, as a nation, have arrived at a crossroads. Between the coronavirus and the private and state-sanctioned lynchings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd sandwiched […]
