Eoin Higgins, “Boston Progressives Fear Rollback of Reforms After DA’s Early Exit,” Bolts Mag, March 8, 2022, https://boltsmag.org/boston-declination/.

Jonathan Cohn, the political director of Progressive Massachusetts, a state group that supports criminal justice reforms, says Hayden’s backtracking is a major mistake. 

“There’s a strong and growing body of research that shows that declining to prosecute nonviolent misdemeanor cases not only minimizes individuals’ current involvement with the criminal legal system, but also substantially reduces the probability of future involvement,” Cohn told Bolts.