criminal justice

Baker opens a legal can of worms

Criminal Justice/ Drugs/ Opinion

Baker opens a legal can of worms

Pushes strict liability for deaths caused by distributing illegal drugs

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GOV. CHARLIE BAKER filed new legislation last month to battle the opioid crisis. His bill proposes some “important updates” to our arsenal of weapons in this fight, one of which, he says, would add a measure of “accountability” to the current strategy of treatment, education, and prevention. Specifically, the governor intends to “ensure that those who(...)

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Warren rips Baker ‘flip-flop’

Criminal Justice

Warren rips Baker ‘flip-flop’

Says mandatory minimum drug sentence violates earlier pledge

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S new bill targeting drug dealers make him a flip-flopper, according to gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren, who appears to be taking a stance against the governor’s proposal to hit deaWlers of lethal drugs with mandatory minimum prison sentences. On Wednesday, the governor proposed legislation (S 2158) defining the illegal(...)

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Baker pushes new drug dealing charges

Criminal Justice/ Drugs

Baker pushes new drug dealing charges

Backs tougher penalties on sales that lead to opioid overdose deaths

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A YEAR AFTER WORKING with the Legislature to try to stem the flow of opioids and improve addiction treatment options, Gov. Charlie Baker is targeting the peddlers of dangerous narcotics with a proposal to enhance penalties for dealing drugs that lead to overdose deaths. The governor, who sits on President Donald(...)

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Let’s rehabilitate moms, not lock them up

Courts/ Criminal Justice/ Opinion

Let’s rehabilitate moms, not lock them up

Incarceration-based drug policies make no sense

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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, I met Sylvia, a smart, talented mother with dreams – like most moms – for her family, despite experiencing homelessness. Formerly in prison for a non-violent drug offense and caught in the cross hairs of the growing mass incarceration movement, she held on to her aspirations despite numerous roadblocks, pursuing work, housing,(...)

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Feds crack down on Lawrence drug network

Criminal Justice/ Drugs/ Guns

Feds crack down on Lawrence drug network

34 arrested, and at least 10 were in the country illegally

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THIRTY PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED Tuesday on gun, drug, and immigration charges in a sweep that brought down a Lawrence-based network that Acting US Attorney William Weinreb described as “one of the largest fentanyl trafficking organizations ever seen in Massachusetts.” Approximately 250 law enforcement officers were involved in the sweep, seizing several(...)

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Victims have stake in criminal justice debate

Criminal Justice/ Opinion

Victims have stake in criminal justice debate

Hearing will provide comment opportunity for crime survivors

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CRIME VICTIMS are the only participants in the criminal justice system who did not, by their own action or choice, put themselves there.  At the same time, they are often the most impacted and endangered participants in the system.  The Massachusetts Victim Rights Law ensures that victims have access to their rights and information throughout(...)

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The Download/ Criminal Justice/ Politics

When not guilty is not innocent

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Aaron Hernandez died an innocent man. Technically. The former New England Patriots star tight end, who apparently took his life early this morning in his cell at the state’s maximum security prison in Shirley, was acquitted of a double murder last week but was still serving a life sentence for the 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd.(...)

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Sununu, Rivera vow to work together on drugs

Criminal Justice/ Drug Addiction/ Drugs/ Opinion

Sununu, Rivera vow to work together on drugs

Lawrence mayor says supply, demand must be addressed

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Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera talked by phone on Thursday after Sununu had claimed that most of the drugs flowing into the Granite State were coming from Lawrence. Below are the statements the two officials released following the phone call. Rivera’s statement, which includes a number of grammatical and(...)

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Getting everyone on same team in Northampton

Criminal Justice

Getting everyone on same team in Northampton

Chief Jody Kasper says police can’t be defensive anymore

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Jody Kasper, chief of the Northampton Police Department, is always looking for ways for her officers to better connect with the community they serve. She launched a program called High Five Fridays in December, where police officers would line the sidewalks leading to elementary schools in Northampton and high five students as they arrived for(...)

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DA Conley pushes back against Gants

Criminal Justice

DA Conley pushes back against Gants

Defends mandatory minimums, questions chief justice’s aggressive politics

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SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DAN CONLEY on Tuesday pushed back against efforts by Chief Justice Ralph Gants and members of the Senate to do away with mandatory minimum sentences and give more discretion in handing out punishment to judges. In remarks during and after a panel discussion at a daylong conference on criminal justice reform(...)

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