Healey backing changes in penalties for drug offenders
Attorney General Maura Healey, ahead of a public hearing on Tuesday, is throwing her weight behind several key criminal justice reforms, including the elimination of mandatory minimum sentencing for certain drug offenses and repeal of the automatic license suspension for convicted drug offenders.
The Judiciary Committee on Tuesday afternoon plans to hear testimony on a number of bills related to criminal sentencing, including omnibus legislation filed by Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Rep. Mary Keefe.
Healey, who does not plan to testify in person, submitted a letter to the chairs of the committee on Monday endorsing several components of the bill and urging the committee to take a closer look at how correctional dollars are spent in the system with a focus on school intervention with at-risk youth and job training and placement.
"I believe now is the time to make smart reforms to our criminal justice system that will improve public safety and make the system fairer for all," Healey wrote. "We must shift the lens by increasing our focus on prevention, intervention, and treatment programs, reducing barriers and improving training for those coming out of correctional facilities, updating our statutes to avoid disproportionate punishment for certain crimes, and maximizing the effectiveness of taxpayer dollars by investing in supervisions and reentry services."
Lawmakers are also expected to hear from Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants, who has been a vocal proponent of eliminating some mandatory minimum sentences and Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley, who has argued in favor in the past of tough sentencing laws as an effective deterrent.
Healey supports eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses that "fall short of trafficking and do not involve minors." She said she will also continue to play an active role with the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission to review other sentences.
Noting that 7,000 people each year in Massachusetts lose their driving privileges for drug offenses, Healey said a majority of those penalized committed crimes that didn't involve a vehicle. The automatic suspension law, according to Healey, came out of a 1989 federal law that would withhold a portion of the state's highway funding unless the state agreed to suspend licenses for drug offenders.
Healey, however, said federal funding, under that same law, can be preserved if the Legislature affirmatively rejects the suspension policy. Thirty-three other states have ended the practice of suspending licenses for non-driving related drug offenses. She also said she supports waiving the $500 license reinstatement fee.
"Automatic license suspensions for non-vehicle-related drug offenses unnecessarily prevent people from rebuilding their lives, getting to work, and caring for their families," Healey wrote.
The Chang-Diaz and Keefe bill would also increase the threshold amounts for several property crimes like larceny, shoplifting and destruction of property from $250 to $1,300. Though Healey said she would leave it to the Legislature to set new "appropriate amounts," the attorney general supports lifting the thresholds that have not been updated since 1987. The changes would turn many felonies into misdemeanor offenses.
Ahead of Tuesday's hearing, advocates for sentencing reform say hundreds of people will rally at the State House to pressure lawmakers to end mandatory minimum sentencing in Massachusetts, including families and a coalition of 130 faith, labor and community groups known as Jobs Not Jails.
Activists argue that the state can save money by reducing the incarceration rate and should reinvest those funds into substance abuse treatment and jobs programs.
"We need to end the policies that lock up our family members for decades and shut us out of the economy for generations," said Hector Figarella, a community organizer with Neighbor to Neighbor in Holyoke, in a statement.
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