The Massachusetts Legislature has been busy debating a crime bill that would eliminate any parole eligibility for persons convicted three times of violent felonies. The general concern over allowing violent offenders access to parole has been gaining steam for several years now, but was brought to a head following the…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) keeps churning out some interesting decisions, this one on the subject of the privacy, or lack thereof, that inmates and detainees in Massachusetts prisons can expect in their telephone conversations. In a 4-3 ruling, the SJC ruled earlier this month that both prison inmates,…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently announced that, from July 20 2009 forward, judges will generally be required to issue rulings within 30 days of the completion of any civil commitment proceeding sought by the Commonwealth against someone previously convicted of rape or a sexual assault crime. On many…
File this under: “It Doesn’t Just Happen At Abu Ghraib” The vast majority of Massachusetts Police Departments do a good job of enforcing the laws that the rest of us are required to obey, as well as observing the laws they are required to obey when it comes to arresting…
Here’s a sobering thought: A shocking one in 24 Massachusetts adults were either in jail or under probation at the end of 2007, according to a study released earlier this week by the respected Pew Center on the States. The report, entitled “One in 31: The Long Reach of American…
Observers of recent developments in Massachusetts criminal law couldn’t avoid the news of one Che Blake Sosa, a particularly vicious excuse of a human being currently housed as the state’s esteemed guest at MCI-Cedar Junction prison in Walpole, Massachusetts. In February 2007, Sosa made news when he concealed a knife…