Finding Common Ground

Recapping the Fourth Annual Criminal Justice Reform Coalition Policy Summit

Finding Common Ground The Fourth Annual Criminal Justice Reform Coalition Policy Summit brought together over 300 leaders on Monday morning at the Omni Parker House in Boston. The program, entitled Finding Common Ground, featured a two-part conversation on reform and reinvestment, presentations of new polling (slides) and research, and remarks from a diverse group of thought leaders. Representative Katherine

Correctional Spending Soars While Prison Population Declines, According to New Report from MassINC

“Getting Tough on Spending” Report Shows Waste, Inefficiencies in Staffing

The report, Getting Tough on Spending, an 18 percent increase in spending for the Department of Correction and county sheriff departments between fiscal 2011 and 2016, while the prison population declined by almost 3,000 or 12 percent. The research further shows that this growth is focused primarily on raises and new hires for correctional officers,

City Councilor highlights reentry initiative

OTO’s collaboration, coordination of reentry services has proven success

Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell held a hearing to review the Overcoming the Odds program (OTO), a reentry initiative from Community Resources for Justice. The goal of this initiative is to better engage individuals with existing programs and services and overcome barriers to success that individuals too often face following reentry. The program relies on

Uncovering the economic growth/criminal justice reform link

Forum on criminal records

MassINC, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston co-hosted a forum on criminal records policy last week at the John Adams Courthouse. The forum featured new research by the bank examining the impact of criminal records and criminal records reform legislation on employment. Bob Triest, a labor market economist who leads

Profiles in Courage

The MassCJRC Journal

Last month, Governor Baker introduced much anticipated legislation to address recommendations made by the Council of State Governments (CSG) on backend criminal justice reform. In public remarks given on the same day the CSG legislative package was unveiled, Chief Justice Gants called this work a “first down, not a touchdown.” Calling attention to the State

The National Day of Empathy

Event Recap

On March 1, MassINC joined with the national bipartisan initiative #cut50 along with organizations across the country for a single day of action to highlight the strength of the bipartisan criminal justice reform movement. The Day of Empathy united groups from Boston to Oakland in solidarity, as a way to generate compassion and understanding on

State leaders unveil bill aimed at cutting recidivism

Officials divided on further changes, Gants urges repeal of most mandatory minimums

STATE LEADERS UNVEILED long-awaited legislation Tuesday aimed at reducing recidivism rates in the criminal justice system. But whether the bill tackles the most pressing issue facing the system or simply marks a good first step in what should be a more sweeping reform process depends on which leader is speaking. That divide is likely to

Senators outline broad criminal justice reform agenda

Lawmakers look to broaden scope beyond pending report

SAYING THE TIME is right for the state to take a look at sweeping criminal justice reforms, a group of Democratic state senators is urging the Legislature to take up bills addressing everything from mandatory minimum drug sentences to fines and fees that lawmakers say are unfairly leading some people to spend time behind bars

MassINC Year In Review

Looking back at our work in 2016

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 2016 has been an incredible year for the MassINC family which includes our Policy Center, CommonWealth magazine and the MassINC Polling Group. Please take a moment to look through the highlights of substantive research, civic events, and journalism from 2016 and consider making a year-end donation that will help us

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