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The Failure of the War on Drugs:
Charting a New Course For the Commonwealth
| Today the Massachusetts Bar Association Drug Policy Task Force issued its report: The Failure of the War on Drugs: Charting a New Course For the Commonwealth. This report represents the collaboration wide range of professionals, including lawyers, doctors, social workers, sheriffs, prosecutors, judges, treatment clinicians, educators and prevention specialists. The report concludes that the current war on drugs is a complete failure and makes numerous recommendations for changing the state’s drug policy. Appended to the report is a supporting document Drug Crimes and Incarceration Rates in the Commonwealth with the statistical data upon which the report relies. CJPC was part of the task force that created this report. |
Criminal Justice Bills in the
2009-2010 Massachusetts Legislative Session
| ADDITIONAL BILLS ADDED JUNE 25. The CJPC has identified some 260 bills of particular interest. New bills summarized this month include efforts to neutralize Prop. #2 regarding decriminalization of certain amounts of marijuana; enhancing Drug Courts; many bills to impact the operations of the SORB; expanding and bills contracting the impact of CORI; broadened protections against domestic violence; limiting the sharing of information regarding juveniles between criminal justice agencies and schools and medical establishments to efforts to assist juveniles and prohibit such information from initiating criminal proceedings; and the decriminalization of certain private consensual activities. These bills are found HERE, along with direct links to all bills’ texts.
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Implementing the Adam Walsh Act:
Request for a Delay
| On March 10th, the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Congress, chaired by Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D. VA), held a hearing to receive testimony regarding the request by the Adam Walsh Act Working Group (AWAWG) to delay implementation, from July 2009 until July 2011, for states’ compliance with the registry portion of the act. The stated reasons for the delay are to allow the most efficient blending of already existing state registrations with the federal registry, and to ensure that such registration does not violate the privacy rights of citizens, nor the issue of double jeopardy. MORE... |
Modifying Mandatory Minimum Sentencing;
Adding Post Release Supervision
| On May 7th, Governor Deval Patrick sent a proposal to the Legislature which will lessen the impact of mandatory minimums and make post release supervision required even for those who wrap their sentences in prison. It is entitled “An Act to Prevent Crime and Reduce Recidivism by Increasing Supervision and Training Opportunities for Inmates;" in addition to the proposed legislation, the Governor's tranmittal letter and a brief summary of the bill are included. MORE... |
Paroling Lifers:
A review of Parole Hearings from 2003-2008
| For the past several years, the Lifers’ Group, Inc. of MCI, Norfolk has obtained data from the MA Parole Board on the hearings given Lifers, most of whom were convicted of 2nd degree murder. (A very few were convicted of other crimes which the M.G.L. provides for a maximum sentence of life. Those crimes include rape, poisoning, armed assault within a dwelling, armed robbery, kidnapping with intent to extort, and assault of a child with intent to commit rape.) The very detailed analysis, with discussion, separates decisions by those who are before the Parole board for the first time and those who are applying a subsequent time. Also listed are the reasons that the Parole board gives the applicants, both for approved parole and parole denied, as is their frequency. Finally, the length of setbacks (time needing to elapse before an individual denied parole is allowed to reapply for parole) is charted.
The most recent data come from hearings in 2008. There is a previous report for 2007, and the earliest report analyzes the years 2003-2006. |
“Future Search Conference”
sponsored by the MA DOC
| In late February, the MA DOC, along with the MA Parole board and the MA Sheriffs Association, hosted a 3 day working conference for a select group of participants to think through what direction corrections should head in the future. MORE... |
Mandatory Minimum Drug Laws
Repeals All Over
| Portugal has decriminalized drugs. Other American states have repealed mandatory minimum drug laws and New York is close to following suit. Congress is now considering doing so. A brief on these issues is found HERE. |
“ONE IN 31: THE LONG REACH OF AMERICAN CORRECTIONS” – a review
New reports on Rates of Incarceration Nationwide
and Rates of Recidivism in Massachusetts
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