Since 2004 (except in the 2009 recession year), the legislature has voted a sales tax holiday weekend in August. I’ve historically voted in favor of these holidays. However, I’m giving it a second thought this year. They just don’t work the way we think they should, as I explain in this post. What are your thoughts?
Human Trafficking
Senator Brownsberger: as a Massachusetts resident, I am very concerned about people in our Commonwealth who are young, vulnerable, desperate and in danger of being exploited. I support Senate Bill 872, and I urge you to consider it favorably. It will strengthen the anti-human trafficking law by codifying safe houses, john schools, training and data dissemination and public outreach. Thank you.
Criminal Justice Reform — Statistics Collection
The legislature is considering directions for criminal justice reform. Check out the background we have been assembling. Help us with additional information.
Mandatory Sentences Disproportionately Impact Minorities.
Illegal drug use spreads through all racial and ethnic groups and whites are the group most commonly convicted of possession (70.9% in Fiscal 2013). The racial disproportionality at the mandatory minimum level is therefore troubling, especially because of the unique role of prosecutorial discretion in bringing and enforcing mandatory minimum charges.
The average sentence impact of repealing mandatories is likely to be modest.
In testimony before the Judiciary Committee in on June 9, 2015, witnesses offered differing predictions of the likely impact of repealing mandatories. We are left with irreducible uncertainty as to the expected change in sentence levels. It seems certain that some particular cases will be resolved differently, but hard to imagine that average sentence levels will completely collapse.
School zone charges are dropped in over 95% of cases.
School zone charges are dropped in over 95% of the cases in which they are charged. The extraordinarily high statewide dismissal rate for the school zone charge argues for its final elimination — it has very limited and therefore potentially arbitrary effect.