MA Criminal Justice Reform
Script for emails or calls to your Senator (not Rep.) to support S.2170
Senator ____________
I am writing to support the Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform Bill S.2170 and to ask you to vote in favor of this bill, without any amendments that would weaken it.
Although I do not feel the bill goes far enough, particularly with regard to solitary confinement and bail reform (I support the elimination of cash bail since we do not appear to have a failure to appear problem in Massachusetts), I do feel that this effort to reform our criminal justice system is long overdue. I am grateful for the amount of work that went into the Senate omnibus bill, which would:
+ Reduce fees, fines, and other collateral consequences that trap people in a cycle of poverty and recidivism
+ Repeal mandatory minimums for lower-level drug offenses
+ Raise the age for being tried as an adult to 19, with a mechanism to consider raising it to 20 or 21 in the future
+ Promote the use of restorative justice;
+ Expand eligibility for diversion to drug treatment;
+ Implement the SJC ruling that bail must be affordable;
+ Raise the felony larceny threshold from $250 to $1,500, in keeping with other states;
+ Allow records to be sealed after 3 years for misdemeanors and 7 years for felonies
+ Restrict the use of solitary confinement and improve its conditions. I would like to see these provisions strengthened further.
The Senate vote will happen in the next couple weeks. Please vote in favor of this historic bill.
Sincerely,
Your Name and Address