From the early 1960s through about 1990, crime rose dramatically in Massachusetts. Most categories of crime have fallen since the early 1990s, but remain above their level in 1965. However, the state prison population has remained elevated, as the chart in this post (indexed to 1965 levels) demonstrates.
Justice
animal welfare, civil law and procedure, criminal law, disability, drug policy, family law, freedom of speech, guardianship, gun violence, housing law, immigration, indigenous agenda, lgbtq rights, policing, privacy, sexual child abuse, terrorism, women's rights
Rethinking tough-on-crime
CommonWealth Magazine’s summer 2015 cover story on criminal justice policy reform by executive editor Michael Jonas, focuses in on the debate over repealing mandatory minimum sentences, which is one aspect of Senator Brownsberger’s legislative priority to reduce the footprint of the criminal justice system and to help make it easier for people to get back on their feet. As reported in the piece, “Sen. Will Brownsberger, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary, thinks the state should pull back the entire “footprint” of the criminal justice system, not only the length of many prison sentences but also various sanctions and fees that hit people once they’re out of prison. Rather than help ease offenders back toward productive pursuits, Brownsberger says, these often seem more like tripwires setting ex-prisoners up to fail.”
Facing Facial Recognition
Today’s second hour of Tom Ashbrook’s show looked at where facial recognition technology is taking us. The pending ubiquity of identifying individuals from snaphots, web posts, and security cameras is becoming a serious possibility. I would really like the Commonwealth to vouchsafe that my likeness and other personal details that I have entrusted them with is our little secret.
Drivers Licenses and Drug Crimes
In 1989, when the crack epidemic was on the front page every day, the Massachusetts legislature was among the first in the nation to pass a law requiring that the registrar of motor vehicles suspend the driver’s license of anyone convicted of any drug crime. It’s about time we revisited that law.
Senator Brownsberger to speak on panel on mass incarceration hosted by the New Start Project
Senator Brownsberger will be among the panelists when The New Start Project hosts a dialogue, “Is There a Mass Incarceration Problem in Massachusetts?” on Monday, May 4, 2015, from 6-8 pm at the Ladd Multipurpose Room at Wheelock College at 43 Hawes Street in Brookline.
Breath tests suspended across the state as results questioned
?South Coast Today?? reports that, “Defense attorneys across Massachusetts are reviewing their drunken driving cases and many prosecutors are suspending use of alcohol breath-test evidence while the state reviews possibly miscalibrated breath-analysis machines used by police. As Senate chair of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Brownsberger was reached for comment and “said his panel would seek more information from prosecutors and the state public safety agency before determining if the Legislature should weigh in.”