CLCM’s Report Archive
Youths Sentenced to Life Without Parole (2009)
Equal Justice Works sponsored a two-year study of individuals serving the sentence of life without parole for crimes committed as juveniles. CLCM staff and pro bono attorneys interviewed 42 of the 57 prisoners serving life sentences, conducted extensive legal research, surveyed JLWOP reform efforts in other states, reviewed numerous records, and designed and evaluated litigation and legislative strategies to address the issue.
Police Practices Under the MA FACES Statute (2012)
Status offenses are those that are considered unlawful specifically because of the offender’s classification as a minor. Common examples include running away from home, truancy, curfew violations, underage possession of alcohol, and behavior that is “incorrigible” or “beyond the control of the parent.”
The recently reformed Massachusetts statute that governs the treatment of status offenders makes significant changes to how the Commonwealth views, responds to, and deals with these youth. While the law is intended to advance a vital ambition of decriminalizing, and reducing the stigma associated with, status offenses, the legislation leaves many practical questions unanswered for key stakeholders, including courts, schools, police departments, child welfare agencies, child advocates, families, and youth. This paper focuses on those questions related to police practices.
A Looming Crisis (2009)
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts and the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts studied the secure detention of youth after arrest and before arraignment in facilities administered by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. In this paper, they recommend that the Commonwealth clarify the circumstances under which youth may be detained between arrest and arraignment and delegate administration of all secure ALPs to the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) and recommend that the Commonwealth should plan for the orderly transition from dependence on federal funds to support the ALP system
Guardianship of Minor Cases in Massachusetts Probate & Family Court (2008)
The CLCM was selected to conduct a year-long study of the nature and management of Guardianship of Minor cases in the Massachusetts Probate & Family Court. The purpose of the study was to gather and analyze data about the families and children involved in the cases, document case management practices, and assess outcomes for the involved children and youth.
Gideon's New Trumpet: Expanding the Civil Right to Counsel in Massachusetts (2008)
CLCM staff participated in the Boston Bar Association's Task Force on Expanding the Civil Right to Counsel. Working on a Juvenile Subcommittee, CLCM staff made recommendations, eventually adopted by the Task Force, that pilot projects be established to provide attorneys to low-income children in certain school discipline cases, and when youth committed to the state's juvenile correctional system faced revocation of their parole.
Do You Know Where the Children Are? A Report on Massachusetts Youth Unlawfully Held Without Bail (2006)
In collaboration with the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, the CLCM conducted research and collected data from across Massachusetts relative to the failure of state law enforcement to enforce existing bail laws for juveniles, particularly children of color. The report and analysis prompted a lead editorial in the Boston Globe and led to practice and policy reform throughout the Commonwealth concerning children who are arrested and detained pre-arraignment.
Reaching Higher: Pathways to Success by 21 on the North Shore (2005)
The CLCM collaborated with the North Shore Workforce Investment Board to collect and compare national, state and local data related to six categories of vulnerable youth. Armed with knowledge about the characteristics and needs of the population, the Law Center and its collaborating partners devised a plan to improve service delivery and promote positive educational and employment opportunities for youth on the North Shore.
Rethinking a “Knowing, Intelligent, and Voluntary Waiver” in Massachusetts’ Juvenile Courts (2004)
Convinced that youth tendering a plea to dispose of a delinquency case in juvenile court did not understand the language utilized by judges when conducting "plea colloquies" (where the judge questions the youth about his/her ability to understand the waiver of legal and constitutional rights involved in the plea), CLCM staff measured youths' understanding of the critical legal concepts. The study’s results revealed that the average difficulty level of the words and phrases routinely used in juvenile court proceedings were at a tenth grade level, while the typical court-involved child was reading at about a sixth grade level. In this report, the CLCM provides a child-friendly version of the colloquy for use in juvenile courts throughout the Commonwealth.