On Thursday, the MA Senate passed two bills to advance the “justice” component of our criminal justice system.
First, the Senate voted 31 to 9 to reform the civil asset forfeiture system, raising the legal bar that law enforcement must meet to seize and keep people’s money and property in suspected drug crimes. MA currently allows DAs the lowest legal burden of proof to keep property that’s seized, even when charges are never filed, and we’re the only state to do so.
The Senate also rejected 29 to 10 an amendment from Senator Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) to strip the language of the bill that would create a right to counsel for (1) defendants in related criminal cases (regardless of indigency) and (2) defendants in cases where there’s no related criminal case and who meet the indigency standard.
Unfortunately, however, the Senate, on voice vote, adopted an amendment from Senator John Keenan (D-Quincy) to strip language from the bill that would have prevented funds seized through civil asset forfeiture from going to local police departments and DA offices and allocated them to the general fund instead. Allowing police departments and DA’s offices to keep the money creates a perverse set of incentives and also enables them to use the money for propaganda purposes.
The Senate also voted 32 to 8 to pass a bill (S.2942) that would increase opportunities for judicial diversion for youth.
Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) roll-called three amendments to limit the scope of the bill.
The first was to eliminate options for diversion for a long list of offenses. It failed 30 to 9, with Senators Barry Finegold (D-Andover), Anne Gobi (D-Spencer), Michael Moore (D-Auburn), Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), Walter Timilty (D-Milton), and John Velis (D-Westfield) joining the 3 Republicans in voting for the amendment.
His second was to strip the offense of “assault and battery with a dangerous weapon” from the list of offenses for which diversion would be an option. This offense, as Citizens for Juvenile Justice explain in an earlier link, is widely invoked, with things like eggs or lotion having been called “dangerous weapons” in past cases. It failed 26 to 12. The aforementioned 9 were joined by Sen. Nick Collins (D-South Boston), Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough), and Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford).
His third amendment, to limit diversion opportunities to only a first offense, was defeated 33 to 6, with only Finegold, Montigny, and Pacheco joining Republicans.
