BEACON HILL'S BIG 3 AGREE MANDATORY MINIMUMS SHOULD BE CURBED
By Jim O'Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON
MAY 10, 2007 - Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi denounced the state's mandatory minimum sentencing laws Thursday, painting a target on a controversial and nearly two-decade-old component of the state's criminal justice system.
During a press conference announcing $15 million in anti-crime funding, part of an $88.9 million supplementary budget Patrick filed Thursday, the three Beacon Hill leaders separately voiced opposition to the sentencing structure, which requires minimum penalties for certain crimes, many of them drug-related and based on amounts sold or proximity to school zones.
DiMasi, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, began the discourse, using his turn at the podium to launch an indictment of the system. "I think that we've made mistakes in the past in how we approach the crime problem, especially youth programs or youth crime .. I mean, mandatory minimum sentences, for instance, I don't think are working and we're paying for the mistakes that we had in the past, and I will say that publicly," DiMasi said.
Patrick, whose campaign public safety message last year focused on prevention over punitive enforcement, said he also opposes the mandatory minimums, adding that Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke is studying the issue, and that he hoped to hear from his anti-crime council on the matter.
"I think anybody who's actually practiced in court on the defense and the prosecutor side has concerns about the systemic impact of warehousing as a strategy to fight crime," said Patrick, himself a former defense attorney and federal prosecutor.
Murray agreed, saying, "We're taking juveniles, kids who haven't figured out how it's put together, haven't got the education, haven't got the support at home, and we're putting them into correctional facilities, and they're coming out with a stigma that they'll never get rid of. And they'll never get a job, and they'll never get a driver's license, and we're going to keep them in poverty and we're going to keep them into a criminal mindset."
The supplementary budget rolled out during a press conference would fully fund the Shannon Grant program, a popular anti-gang initiative for city youth programs, add $4 million to hire 70 new Boston police officers immediately, and provide $3.6 million in emergency payments for dairy farmers.
Patrick, who left the Shannon Grant program out of his budget for next fiscal year, said he'd been persuaded that its title represents "magic words" in the State House.
The three-headed blasting of the state's criminal justice laws was unplanned, aides said, and only DiMasi elaborated. Holding court with reporters later, the North End Democrat used the example of a teenager serving a stiff jail sentence for selling a bag of marijuana six blocks from a school at night.
"He may be more dangerous getting out than he was going in, and that could've been prevented," DiMasi said, calling the policy "short-sighted."
DiMasi said he prefers "presumptive sentencing," which provides ranges that allow for mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said public opinion sides with the required minimum sentences, and said DiMasi has spent far more time as a defense attorney than prosecutor.
"And my guess is the defense side of the equation paid him far more than the prosecution side ever paid him," Jones said, in a telephone interview.
Jones said he supports the concept of minimum mandatories, but would be open to reductions for specific crimes.
Sentencing policy can be politically risky terrain, DiMasi noted, with politicians loath to appear to yield to criminals. Attorney General Martha Coakley, who said she supports examining the sentencing laws and suggested parole eligibility incentives as a means of rehabilitating convicts, noted that the push to repeal "min mands" is about a decade old.
Several sentencing reform efforts have been mounted and failed on Beacon Hill over the years.
Later, Murray deferred to Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Robert Creedon, who said his panel would revisit the policy, but, "It's not going to happen soon."
"You've got to look at the whole statutory scheme of mandatory minimums," Creedon said.
Patrick's mid-year spending bill, his accompanying letter to lawmakers said, addresses $70.3 million in "immediate deficiencies."
Rising inmate populations, which a top Patrick aide recently said have contributed to a "travesty" in jail conditions, are behind a request for $17 million more in county corrections costs.
The budget also includes $15.6 million for "unanticipated costs due to the re-procurement of the system of care" at the state's troubled Department of Social Services; and $8 million for snow and ice removal incurred by the late-winter weather.
Mayors and anti-crime activists hailed the inclusion of the Shannon Grant funding, which they said has helped add security to more than a dozen cities where violence has been problematic.
"We were obviously disappointed it wasn't in [the initial round of budget proposals] and I'm thrilled the Patrick administration is supporting the dozens of programs that have worked," said Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge), who helped sponsor the initial program with the now deceased Sen. Charles Shannon (D-Winchester).
Patrick refrained from asking the Legislature to avoid amending his bill, a request he made earlier this year when he filed a $1.5 billion "immediate needs" bond bill. When a reporter asked whether the bill would move through the Legislature on a fast track, Patrick replied, "Less than a week, maybe."
"We never make those presumptions," DiMasi smiled from behind Patrick. "As quickly as possible." Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, a vocal supporter of the Shannon Grant program, smiled back, "Come on, Sal."
From www.statehousenews.com
By Jim O'Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON
MAY 10, 2007 - Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi denounced the state's mandatory minimum sentencing laws Thursday, painting a target on a controversial and nearly two-decade-old component of the state's criminal justice system.
During a press conference announcing $15 million in anti-crime funding, part of an $88.9 million supplementary budget Patrick filed Thursday, the three Beacon Hill leaders separately voiced opposition to the sentencing structure, which requires minimum penalties for certain crimes, many of them drug-related and based on amounts sold or proximity to school zones.
DiMasi, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, began the discourse, using his turn at the podium to launch an indictment of the system. "I think that we've made mistakes in the past in how we approach the crime problem, especially youth programs or youth crime .. I mean, mandatory minimum sentences, for instance, I don't think are working and we're paying for the mistakes that we had in the past, and I will say that publicly," DiMasi said.
Patrick, whose campaign public safety message last year focused on prevention over punitive enforcement, said he also opposes the mandatory minimums, adding that Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke is studying the issue, and that he hoped to hear from his anti-crime council on the matter.
"I think anybody who's actually practiced in court on the defense and the prosecutor side has concerns about the systemic impact of warehousing as a strategy to fight crime," said Patrick, himself a former defense attorney and federal prosecutor.
Murray agreed, saying, "We're taking juveniles, kids who haven't figured out how it's put together, haven't got the education, haven't got the support at home, and we're putting them into correctional facilities, and they're coming out with a stigma that they'll never get rid of. And they'll never get a job, and they'll never get a driver's license, and we're going to keep them in poverty and we're going to keep them into a criminal mindset."
The supplementary budget rolled out during a press conference would fully fund the Shannon Grant program, a popular anti-gang initiative for city youth programs, add $4 million to hire 70 new Boston police officers immediately, and provide $3.6 million in emergency payments for dairy farmers.
Patrick, who left the Shannon Grant program out of his budget for next fiscal year, said he'd been persuaded that its title represents "magic words" in the State House.
The three-headed blasting of the state's criminal justice laws was unplanned, aides said, and only DiMasi elaborated. Holding court with reporters later, the North End Democrat used the example of a teenager serving a stiff jail sentence for selling a bag of marijuana six blocks from a school at night.
"He may be more dangerous getting out than he was going in, and that could've been prevented," DiMasi said, calling the policy "short-sighted."
DiMasi said he prefers "presumptive sentencing," which provides ranges that allow for mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said public opinion sides with the required minimum sentences, and said DiMasi has spent far more time as a defense attorney than prosecutor.
"And my guess is the defense side of the equation paid him far more than the prosecution side ever paid him," Jones said, in a telephone interview.
Jones said he supports the concept of minimum mandatories, but would be open to reductions for specific crimes.
Sentencing policy can be politically risky terrain, DiMasi noted, with politicians loath to appear to yield to criminals. Attorney General Martha Coakley, who said she supports examining the sentencing laws and suggested parole eligibility incentives as a means of rehabilitating convicts, noted that the push to repeal "min mands" is about a decade old.
Several sentencing reform efforts have been mounted and failed on Beacon Hill over the years.
Later, Murray deferred to Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Robert Creedon, who said his panel would revisit the policy, but, "It's not going to happen soon."
"You've got to look at the whole statutory scheme of mandatory minimums," Creedon said.
Patrick's mid-year spending bill, his accompanying letter to lawmakers said, addresses $70.3 million in "immediate deficiencies."
Rising inmate populations, which a top Patrick aide recently said have contributed to a "travesty" in jail conditions, are behind a request for $17 million more in county corrections costs.
The budget also includes $15.6 million for "unanticipated costs due to the re-procurement of the system of care" at the state's troubled Department of Social Services; and $8 million for snow and ice removal incurred by the late-winter weather.
Mayors and anti-crime activists hailed the inclusion of the Shannon Grant funding, which they said has helped add security to more than a dozen cities where violence has been problematic.
"We were obviously disappointed it wasn't in [the initial round of budget proposals] and I'm thrilled the Patrick administration is supporting the dozens of programs that have worked," said Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge), who helped sponsor the initial program with the now deceased Sen. Charles Shannon (D-Winchester).
Patrick refrained from asking the Legislature to avoid amending his bill, a request he made earlier this year when he filed a $1.5 billion "immediate needs" bond bill. When a reporter asked whether the bill would move through the Legislature on a fast track, Patrick replied, "Less than a week, maybe."
"We never make those presumptions," DiMasi smiled from behind Patrick. "As quickly as possible." Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, a vocal supporter of the Shannon Grant program, smiled back, "Come on, Sal."
From www.statehousenews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment