Reading the Juvenile Life without Parole Cases

Before the legislature is the question of how to respond to the case of Commonwealth v. Diatchenko. In that case, our Supreme Judicial Court found that it is unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to life without parole for first degree murder. The basic question the legislature needs to answer is what should be the first …

Drugs and addictions overview

In response to popular demand, I’ve created this conversation category on drugs and addictions. This overview collects some older posts and summarizes my current thinking. I have been thinking about these issues for over 20 years and my thinking has evolved considerably over time. Here is an overview of my thinking on drugs and addictions: …

New law requiring fingerprinting of school and camp staff

A new law (Chapter 77 of the Acts of 2013) requires the fingerprinting of all staff at both public and private schools who are in contact with students.  The procedure is that a person goes to an FBI-approved vendor who takes the fingerprints.  They are then sent to the FBI which checks for matches with …