As Senate Chair of the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee, it is my top personal priority to lighten the footprint of the criminal justice system on communities of color. Even in Massachusetts, where I believe that most police leaders take an enlightened approach to community policing — certainly, our own police chief and District Attorney Ryan do — the New Jim Crow is a real problem.

In 2013, the legislature created a commission to study “the most reliable protocols for assessing and managing the risk of recidivism of sex offenders.” Our goal is to make recommendations that will better protect the public from dangerous people, while being fair to offenders who pose little risk. The subject is difficult and emotional and we are trying to proceed in a step-by-step way to gather a full understanding of the subject before we reach any conclusions about public policy.