Boston: People Are Charged With Crimes That Waste Taxpayers’ Money and Prosecutors’ Time
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In Boston, People Are Charged With Crimes That Waste Taxpayers’ Money and Prosecutors’ Time
When people in Boston are charged with certain low-level crimes and misdemeanors, prosecutors dismiss the charges nearly 60 percent of the time.
America’s growing awareness of mass incarceration and the over-incarceration of people of color has sparked something nationwide: From Birmingham to Boston, voters are electing progressive, reform-minded prosecutors.
Suffolk County District Attorney candidate Rachael Rollins last year announced that, if elected, her office would decline to prosecute 15 misdemeanors and low-level felonies in Boston and surrounding municipalities. The list included breaking and entering when it is for the purpose of sleeping or seeking refuge from the cold and there is no property damage, minor in possession of alcohol, drug possession, resisting arrest as a standalone charge, and minor driving offenses.
“I believe that we are spending too much time on petty crimes that are clogging up our system and costing us more money,” she told Fox’s Tucker Carlson last September. “They’re more social problems than they are crimes.”
For these offenses, she said, incarceration should not be “the only tool,” and people could instead be referred to drug treatment or other rehabilitative programs. Her pledge was hailed by criminal legal reform advocates but sharply criticized by police lobby groups and others in law enforcement…continue reading