A WELL-KNOWN management maxim warns, if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. By that reckoning, those trying to better the state’s criminal justice system are often flying blind. How long, for example, does the average probationer in Massachusetts stay on probation? Or how many people last year had their probation revoked? State Probation Commissioner Edward Dolan has no idea. While each probationer has their […]
Byron Rushing
Posted inCriminal Justice
Protesting the George Floyd killing: A moment or a movement?
THE BURST OF protests across the country following the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer are demanding dramatic reform of policing practices. But are we on the verge of seismic change from a movement unleashed by his killing, or witnessing a brush fire of dissent that will soon only […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Dialing up the road safety debate
ROOTED IN ONE of the most abominable facets of the nation’s past, racial profiling remains a risk today for drivers of color. At the same time, the havoc caused by motorists distracted by smartphones, a triumph of ingenuity and engineering, presents a uniquely modern hazard on streets and highways. Efforts to grapple with those two […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston’s change election
FIVE WEEKS BEFORE Nika Elugardo took on state Rep. Jeff Sánchez at a candidate forum in the Democratic primary contest in the 15th Suffolk District, JP Progressives could tell there was a pick-up in voter interest. That’s why the liberal neighborhood political group changed the forum location from a function room at Doyle’s—a bar and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House criminal justice bill seen taking up broad reform
A KEY HOUSE LEADER signaled that his chamber is likely to respond to a sweeping Senate criminal justice bill with legislation that tackles many of the issues in the Senate measure that reform advocates have been pushing. Advocates for criminal justice reform have been pressing House officials to follow the Senate’s lead, and Assistant House […]