The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff
The Pandemic Prompted Marilyn Mosby to Stop Prosecuting Low-Level Crimes. Will Other D.A.s Follow? Prosecutors across the country have begun declining low-level cases in an effort to reduce racial inequity and to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Joshua Vaughn
Bodycam Video Shows ‘Mob Mentality’ Of Boston Police Who Responded To George Floyd Protests, Lawyer Says Hours of video given exclusively to The Appeal show police officers bragging about attacking protesters and multiple instances of excessive force and the liberal use of pepper spray. Eoin Higgins
Massachusetts Court Won’t Block Access To Reports On Who Boston Police May Have Targeted on Social Media District Attorney Rachael Rollins sought to block the disclosure of records that could show Boston police used Snapchat to target people who are Black or Latinx. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Suffolk County DA’s Attack On Public Defenders Was Misguided During a Boston radio show where Rachael Rollins accused defenders of harming Black and Brown communities, the DA demonstrated that she misunderstands the role that prosecutors play in the criminal legal system: caging those very people. Premal Dharia, Jullian Harris-Calvin
Missing Jail Data Hampers COVID-19 Release Efforts in Massachusetts The state’s law enforcement agencies failed to implement a 2018 data-sharing law. Now officials are struggling to identify high-risk people to release from county jails. Ethan Corey
Over DA’s Objections, a Man Living With Cancer Can Remain at Home While Awaiting Trial His attorney says the Suffolk County DA’s office tried to send “an innocent man to his death.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Massachusetts Prosecutors Should Use Their Power To Dismiss Cases Now District attorneys in the state could decarcerate quickly by dropping unnecessary cases. Will Isenberg
Curbing COVID-19 Means A Moratorium On Unnecessary Arrests In Boston, it’s worse than business as usual at the police department as the pandemic spreads. On a recent day, officers arrested people for charges the district attorney has publicly declined to prosecute. Will Isenberg
Prosecutors Across U.S. Call for Action to Mitigate Spread of Coronavirus in Jails and Prisons In a joint statement, they emphasized the need to reduce the number of people currently incarcerated in order to contain the deadly COVID-19 virus. Jessica Pishko
Joe Kennedy III Says He Is Running A Progressive Senate Campaign. But He Worked For One Of The Most Regressive D.A.s In Massachusetts In his run for president, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been forced to address his consulting past. Kennedy should do the same about his work. Will Isenberg
Boston Law Enforcement Has Been Fighting A Court Order To Release Data On Who Police Target On Snapchat District Attorney Rachael Rollins ran as a reformer who would work to increase transparency, but her office and the police department have been fighting the order. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Millions of Children Lose Their Parents To Incarceration. That Doesn’t Have To Happen. Prosecutors can help implement policies that are better for families and communities. Ebony Underwood, Miriam Aroni Krinsky
Massachusetts Prosecutors Are Using ‘Dangerousness’ Holds To Keep People Incarcerated Pretrial Advocates say that despite the election of several progressive prosecutors in the state, there’s a substantial increase in such detentions, which are stymieing gains made through policies to limit cash bail. Joshua Vaughn
Rhode Island Police Don’t Just Make Arrests. Some Also Act As Prosecutors. The state is one of eight that allow cops to arraign people on misdemeanor charges. Advocates and academics say the practice is unjust. Julia Rock, Harry August
The Appeal Podcast: Chesa Boudin And The Meaning of ‘Reform’ With Chesa Boudin, candidate for San Francisco district attorney Adam H. Johnson
The Public Safety Myth Law enforcement’s old guard claims that policing low-level crime protects communities. That’s not just wrong; it’s dangerous. Rachael Rollins
A No-Holds-Barred Assault on Prosecutors Attorney General William Barr pushed back against reforms by progressive prosecutors—but perhaps his greatest vitriol was reserved for the Boston DA’s attempt to rein in police. John Pfaff
Boston Globe Accused of ‘Willie Horton’-Style Fearmongering Nineteen academics published a letter to the newspaper over its coverage of the Suffolk County DA. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Suffolk County D.A. Rachael Rollins’s Office is Still Prosecuting Cases She Pledged to Drop Boston’s top prosecutor says big changes are in the works; advocates plan to keep pushing. Emma Whitford
Boston’s New D.A. Pushes Back Against Prosecutors’ ‘Punishment-centric’ Point of View Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s promise to decline to prosecute several offenses is a rejection of the punitive tradition of prosecutors and perhaps signals a new kind of reform that spurns criminal justice as a solution to public health problems. John Pfaff
