Caution on crime bill
Some advocates won’t be satisfied until the state’s jails and prisons are razed and replaced with wellness sanctuaries where criminals can meditate while contemplating their misdeeds. Fortunately many of the officials lobbying for criminal justice reforms seem to understand that, while changes are in order to help break a troubling cycle of recividism, the scales should still tip in favor of public safety.
Leaders of all three branches of state government gathered this week to make a bipartisan push for a criminal justice reform bill, releasing a long-awaited study and policy proposals.
Massachusetts has one of the lowest incarceration rates in the nation, but two-thirds of the individuals released from houses of correction and more than half released from state prison end up back in “the system” within three years, concluded a study by the Council of State Governments conducted at Beacon Hill’s request. The policy proposals largely focus on reversing that trend.
Inmate advocates, social justice warriors and some members of the state Senate insist the only way to fix the “mass incarceration” problem is to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences in all cases, but the state’s low incarceration rate would seem to undermine that claim.
Instead of eliminating mandatory minimums the bill would set up a system to reward inmates for participating in pre-release and other programs intended to guide them toward a crime-free life. The controversy may come over just how those rewards are structured, because the idea of resurrecting earned “good time” is troubling given how it has been abused in this state in the past.
Supporters say only inmates who are not serving time for a violent crime, or one involving illegal guns or a minor would be eligible to earn time off their sentence with “recividism-reduction” programs. Gov. Charlie Baker said the bill would focus on making those convicted of certain drug distribution crimes eligible.
But these things have a way of expanding over time, and the public must be on guard against a return to the bad old days.
Despite the united front this week the actual plan will be put through the legislative wringer before it becomes law — as it should be. The loudest voices — like those who interrupted the press conference repeatedly on Tuesday to argue that the proposal doesn’t go far enough — shouldn’t drown out the rest.