Governor Charlie Baker signed legislation reforming a considerable amount of important laws in the Massachusetts criminal justice system this past April. So, how have those changes been going, on a day-to-day basis in the courts? At only 90 days out from the bill’s signing, it’s a little hard to say,…
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this week, that juvenile sentences of life without parole in non-homicide cases violates the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, brought humanity and civility back into many courthouses across the United States. No one, this writer included, doubts that juveniles can commit…
Here’s an interesting development occurring at the intersection of criminal law and the healthcare field: The state’s largest nursing association is organizing support and lobbying for a bill giving nurses special protections from assault and battery by patients under their care. The legislation would put defendants found guilty of assault…
Ten years ago this summer, a horrifying story came to pass on Cape Cod. It represented the penultimate fear of anyone whose car has ever broken down, and is seeking help. A young woman named Melissa Gosule was driving on Cape Cod in July 1999 near the Cape Cod Canal…
My previous post on this topic talked about what mandatory minimum criminal sentencing is all about. Now I’ll speak to why it’s a bad idea. The principal reason advanced for enacting these kinds of law is deterrence: Make sure that no lenient (read: liberal) judge is allowed to reduce a…
Recently, attorney David W. White Jr., President of the Massachusetts Bar Association, published a piece in The Boston Globe, “Fixing Our Criminal Sentencing System“, on the subject of mandatory criminal sentencing. For those of you who may not know, “mandatory minimum sentencing” laws are the Massachusetts state legislature’s (and many…