STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE and city of Springfield plan to enter into a consent decree that will resolve the federal government’s claim that the Springfield […]
criminal justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
Koonce murder sentence commuted after 31 years in jail
AFTER SPENDING 31 years in jail for murder, Thomas Koonce will soon be a free man. Gov. Charlie Baker commuted Koonce’s sentence in January and on Tuesday the Parole Board […]
Posted inThe Download
Changing incarceration trends lead to prison closure
The Massachusetts Department of Correction on Thursday made a surprising announcement: MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole will stop housing prisoners over the next two years. The reason the department gave was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Changing incarceration trends lead to prison closure
THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT of Correction on Thursday made a surprising announcement: MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole will stop housing prisoners over the next two years. The reason the department gave was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
State preparing to close down Walpole prison
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE OFFICIALS plan to wind down operations at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole, one of the state’s oldest correctional facilities. The Department of Correction on Thursday announced […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Chicopee school superintendent arrested for lying about threatening messages
THE CHICOPEE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT was arrested Wednesday for sending threatening messages to a candidate for the Chicopee police chief position then lying about it to FBI investigators. Lynn Clark, 51, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Man, 78, exonerated in decades-old arson case over juror anti-Semitism
A MAN CONVICTED of arson nearly 40 years ago for burning down his vacation home in the Berkshires has been exonerated, due partly to anti-Semitic comments made by jurors in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Public safety secretary responds to criminal justice reform concerns
AFTER THE CHAIRMAN of the House Judiciary Committee questioned Gov. Charlie Baker’s commitment to implementing the criminal justice and police reform laws, Baker officials defended their efforts in a detailed […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC places safeguards on use of cellphone ‘tower dumps’
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT will allow the police to continue using “tower dumps,” requests for broad swaths of cellphone data, despite pleas from privacy activists to eliminate the practice. But […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge open to religious discrimination claim on vaccine mandate
AFTER GOV. CHARLIE BAKER instituted an executive branch COVID-19 vaccine mandate, 156 State Police union members asked for religious exemptions. All of them were denied. In seven cases, however, the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Probate judge resigns in wake of SJC suspension
PROBATE AND FAMILY Court Judge Paul Sushchyk resigned on Monday, five days after the Supreme Judicial Court suspended him without pay for groping a court employee and lying about it. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Making sense of correctional spending
MASSACHUSETTS SPENDS MORE than $1 billion a year to incarcerate roughly 13,000 people in its state prisons and county houses of correction, but a lot of the details of that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Correction Department denies unsafe conditions at Bridgewater
THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Correction is disputing the findings in a report that said the agency has refused to address pervasive mold and the potential for asbestos exposure at Bridgewater […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Commission calls for limiting police use of facial recognition technology
A LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION is recommending strict new curbs on the use of facial recognition technology by the police, including requiring a warrant and limiting its use to investigating felony crimes. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
State correction officer charged with having sex with inmate
A FORMER state correction officer pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of having sexual relations with an inmate. Charlotte Ferro, who worked at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, was arraigned […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
A steep fall for Cannon-Grant
FOR MONICA CANNON-GRANT, the limelight has proved to be a decidedly double-edged sword. The long-time Black Boston activist rocketed to prominence amid the country’s racial reckoning of recent years. It […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House leader questions implementation of criminal justice law
THE TOP HOUSE lawmaker on criminal justice issues is accusing the Baker administration of “outright resistance” to implementing the state’s criminal justice reform law. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Michael Day, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Tsarnaev again faces death penalty, but support for capital punishment dropping
IT’S PROBABLY THE highest profile capital punishment case in the country. And while it was an administration in Washington led by a Democratic president opposed to the death penalty that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
THE SUPREME COURT reinstated the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, in a split 6-3 decision. The decision was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. The three liberal justices […]
Posted inThe Download
Shifting narrative on report on traffic stops
When the Legislature passed a law banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving, a major concern voiced by lawmakers was that it would be enforced disproportionately against Black […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
New Bedford Light calls out silence on health care exec story
WHEN FOUNDERS OF the New Bedford Light announced plans a year ago to launch a new nonprofit news site to cover the South Coast, they pointed to the desperate need […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC says Springfield mayor’s powers on policing have limits
SPRINGFIELD MAY BE one of the Massachusetts cities with a “strong mayor” form of government, but the mayor’s extensive powers over city government are not unlimited powers. That was the […]
Posted inThe Download
SJC says Springfield mayor’s powers on policing have limits
Springfield may be one of the Massachusetts cities with a “strong mayor” form of government, but the mayor’s extensive powers over city government are not unlimited powers. That was the […]
Posted inThe Download
Defense lawyer dismisses Baker marijuana bill as ‘junk science’
Gov. Charlie Baker has been pushing for legislation he says would give “law enforcement more tools to keep our roads safe from impaired drivers.” John Amabile, president of the […]
