Should 17-Year-Olds be Tried as Juveniles or Adults?

Massachusetts is one of 11 states where 17-year-olds are tried and sentenced as adults, but two bills on Beacon Hill seek to change that.

At what age should teenagers be tried as adults when charged with a crime? In Massachusetts, it's anyone 17-years-old or older, but two bills currently on Beacon Hill seek to change that. It's a law that journalists at Patch and elsewhere are well aware of, since we've answered emails and questions from people asking why a 17-year-old arrestee's name had been printed in a police log report. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 119, Section 52 defines only those 16 and younger as juveniles in the state's court system. The makes the Bay State only one of 11 states that doesn't classify 17-year-olds as juveniles. Most states—38, to be exact—don't treat alleged offenders as adults until they've reached 18-years-old. New York and North Carolina …

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Colleen

11:13 am on Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Excellent points, Tom.   more ›

Mass. Tax Plans: Too Much, Too Soon? Or Too Little, Too Slow?

Should the state forge ahead with Gov. Deval Patrick's bold plan to invest now? Or should it follow the Legislature leadership's proposal to address the bottom line before embarking on bigger initiatives?

Massachusetts legislators this week answered Gov. Deval Patrick's ambitious plan to raise $1.9 billion for transportation and education with a $500 million plan of their own, which says the governor is asking for too much, too soon as the Bay State shakes off the effects of the Great Recession. Who's right? Should the state forge ahead in a bold plan to invest now? Or should it cautiously address the bottom line before embarking on bigger initiatives? While Patrick's plan includes funding for both the state transportation system and increased education funding from preschool through college, House and Senate lawmakers eschew new revenue for education, focusing solely on closing the transportation budget gap over the next five years. The …

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Andrew Sylvia

9:26 pm on Tuesday, April 9, 2013

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Mass. Legislature Website Flunked by Sunlight Foundation

See why the state Legislature's website received an 'F' for transparency and tell us—do you agree? How transparent is your city or town government's website?

This week is Sunshine Week, when journalists and nonprofits cast a spotlight on government transparency, but there are dark clouds over the Massachusetts Legislature's website according to one organization. The nonpartisan, nonprofit Sunshine Foundation gave the state Legislature's website an 'F,' one of five states to receive a failing grade on a report card grading each state legislature website's transparency. Websites were scored in six categories. The categories, along with the score ranges for each, Massachusetts' scores and explanations were: The lead investigator on the Sunshine Foundation's Open State project, James Turk, told WGBH that Massachusetts' results were presented to the state and the Foundation "was told that not much …

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Should Teachers, Child Care Workers Submit Fingerprints for Background Checks?

Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers and school bus drivers to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks.

UPDATED FRIDAY, JAN. 11 at 11:55 A.M. Should school and child care employees fingerprinted before starting employment in order to check their criminal backgrounds? The Associated Press recently reported Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is considering signing legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers and school bus drivers to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. On Friday, the state education office announced in a press release that Patrick signed the bill on Thursday, authorizing the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and school districts to conduct fingerprint-supported national criminal history background checks on all teachers, school employees and early education providers in …

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Individual Food Price Tags No Longer Required in Mass.

The law that goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 allows store owners to place scanners in the aisles, making shoppers do their own price checks, instead of individually marking each item.

Starting on New Year's Day 2013, Massachuetts is the last state in the union to abolish a law requiring individual price tags on all food items. Instead of having the prices marked on every item, as has been the law since 1987, grocery stores can now install aisle price scanners every 5,000 square feet that would display the prices of scanned items. Gov. Deval Patrick signed the bill into law in July after earlier passing in the House and Senate—with only two senators in session. The bill, called "An Act relative to clear and conspicuous price disclosure," has been strongly supported for years by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, who argued that the current system creates less accurate pricing, lowers the level of service for …

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Governor to Sign 'Three Strikes' Crime Bill

Patrick calls the bill "a good start."

Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday ended speculation that he might kill the mandatory sentencing bill he had objected to but the Legislature supported. Calling the bill "a good start," Patrick said he would sign it but wants to see changes made to it in the next legislative session. "I still believe there is a necessary role for judicial discretion when it comes to sentencing and many of the advocates of this bill have pledged to support that next year," he wrote on his website Tuesday. "The Senate President and the Speaker have pledged to return to the subject of mandatory minimum sentencing early in the next session. I take them at their word." As it stands, the so-called "three strikes" bill, also dubbed "Melissa's Law" after a Jamaica Plain…

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Melrose's Legislators Vote for 'Three Strikes' Bill for Violent Crimes

The bill both aims to ensure violent criminals stay behind bars while easing prison overcrowding by reducing drug-offense penalties.

A bill that toughens sentences for violent repeat-offenders passed the Senate last Thursday after having been approved overwhelmingly in the House Wednesday evening.  The so-called "three-strikes" law eliminates parole for someone convicted three times of a violent crime, with at least one conviction having carried a minimum three-year prison term. It passed the House with a vote of 139-14. In the Senate, it passed 31-7. The movement to pass the law was fueled, in part, by outrage over two crimes. In one, Woburn police officer Jack Maguire was murdered by a felon. In the other crime more associated with the law, sometimes dubbed "Melissa's Law," 27-year-old Jamaica Plain schoolteacher Melissa Gosule was murdered in 1999 after being raped …

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Bill for Transfer, Sale of Melrose Group Homes on Governor's Desk

The special act allows the the transfer of group homes on Lebanon Street and Trenton Street from the Melrose Housing Authority to the Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation, which plans to sell them.

A special act of the state Legislature that would allow for the sale of group homes on Lebanon and Trenton Streets, and then using the revenue from those sales to rehabilitate existing Melrose Housing Authority (MHA) properties and purchase more homes to convert to affordable apartments, has reached Gov. Deval Patrick's desk. Rep. Paul Brodeur, D-Melrose, tweeted yesterday afternoon, "Happy to report that Melrose home rule petition on affordable housing is on its way to the Governor's desk!" The bill as enacted by the House and Senate yesterday, and approved by the Melrose Board of Aldermen last August, would authorize the transfer of residences at 499 Lebanon St. and 165 Trenton St. from the MHA—which runs government-subsidized public …

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Letters to the Editor

Letter: Support Electric Shock Therapy Ban

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and others urge state legislators to support an amendment to ban electric shock aversive therapy in Massachusetts.

A copy of this letter to state legislators was provided to Melrose Patch by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. To members of the Conference Committee and Governor Deval Patrick,   We are writing as concerned members of the disability community to urge you to give your support to Amendment #548, which bans the use of electric shock aversive “therapy,” as contained in the Senate FY 13 Budget. We ask that this be included in the FY 13 Budget Conference Committee Report.   For several years, Massachusetts has failed to pass a general and complete ban of this practice, which has allowed the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton to subject people with disabilities to torture in the name of treatment.   The United Nations has declared the use of …

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