GOV. CHARLIE BAKER filed new legislation last month to battle the opioid crisis. His bill proposes some “important updates” to our arsenal of weapons in this fight, one of which, he […]
criminal justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
Warren rips Baker ‘flip-flop’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S new bill targeting drug dealers make him a flip-flopper, according to gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren, who appears to be taking a stance against […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker pushes new drug dealing charges
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A YEAR AFTER WORKING with the Legislature to try to stem the flow of opioids and improve addiction treatment options, Gov. Charlie Baker is targeting the […]
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 inCriminal Justice
The high toll of inmate phone calls
IT’S EASY TO take ordinary conveniences like making a telephone call for granted. Advances in technology have made communication cheaper and higher quality than ever before. But one group has […]
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 inCriminal Justice, Guns, State House News Service
Feds crack down on Lawrence drug network
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THIRTY PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED Tuesday on gun, drug, and immigration charges in a sweep that brought down a Lawrence-based network that Acting US Attorney William Weinreb […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Victims have stake in criminal justice debate
CRIME VICTIMS are the only participants in the criminal justice system who did not, by their own action or choice, put themselves there. At the same time, they are often […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
When not guilty is not innocent
Aaron Hernandez died an innocent man. Technically. The former New England Patriots star tight end, who apparently took his life early this morning in his cell at the state’s maximum security prison […]
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 inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, Opinion
Sununu, Rivera vow to work together on drugs
Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera talked by phone on Thursday after Sununu had claimed that most of the drugs flowing into the Granite State […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Getting everyone on same team in Northampton
Jody Kasper, chief of the Northampton Police Department, is always looking for ways for her officers to better connect with the community they serve. She launched a program called High […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
DA Conley pushes back against Gants
SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DAN CONLEY on Tuesday pushed back against efforts by Chief Justice Ralph Gants and members of the Senate to do away with mandatory minimum sentences and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Brownsberger: Criminal justice reform top priority
MY ONGOING TOP PRIORITY as Senate Chair of the Judiciary Committee is criminal justice reform. The criminal justice system is filled with committed professionals – police, prosecutors, judges, and probation, […]
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 inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
Ortiz stepping down early
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE U.S. ATTORNEY Carmen Ortiz, the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as the top federal prosecutor in the district of Massachusetts, will leave her post […]
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 inBallot Questions, Criminal Justice, State House News Service
Pot supporters say ballot question about fairness
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS PROPONENTS GATHERED outside the State House Wednesday to urge support for marijuana legalization and condemn arguments against it as rooted in fear, opponents of a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
The unobstructed view of hindsight
In the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, fingers are being pointed and questions asked about why federal law enforcement officials didn’t detain — or at the least keep track of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Back Story
Weld’s views ‘developing’ on criminal justice reform
WHEN HE RAN for governor in Massachusetts 26 years ago, Republican Bill Weld cut a more moderate profile on many social issues than his Democratic opponent, John Silber – a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, Opinion
Ending driver’s license suspension for drug offenders
I APPLAUD THE members of the 189th General Court of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for finishing what their colleagues in the Senate started in September by unanimously supporting legislation […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Chism judge evicts press, public for 15 minutes
The judge in the Philip Chism murder trial kicked the press and the public out of his Salem courtroom for about 15 minutes this week to prevent the release of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
SJC seeks probes of DeLeo transcript leak
THE MASSACHUSETTS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT told House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Monday that it was asking three state and federal law enforcement agencies and its former independent counsel to investigate […]
