Last Tuesday, the Boston Globe printed an OpEd by Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe. We, along with a number of other groups, immediately submitted Letters to the Editor (LTE), in response to the numerous offensive claims that were asserted. A copy of our LTE is below; at this point, it seems unlikely to be printed so I wanted to share it. Unfortunately, the number of words are limited so it is impossible to respond to everything.
The link to the original piece is here.
A link to the LTE’s that were printed is here.
DA O’Keefe’s op-ed does not shed light on a problem; it promotes fear – the fear of bold reform that aims to reverse over 36 years of failed racially biased policies. The overall crime rate is down and has been on the decline since 2015. In Massachusetts, criminal justice reform has been happening over the past several years, most recently with the Legislature’s passage of a major criminal justice reform bill last year.
A “true” district attorney not only has the right, but also the responsibility to prioritize prosecutions. DA Rachel Rollins is NOT legalizing low level offenses; rather the goal is to stop criminalizing poverty and to only prosecute these offenses if aggravating factors are present. This policy determination was made after studying years of crime statistics, and deciding that her office’s limited resources would be better served focusing on more serious crime. Suffolk county voters overwhelmingly chose her to implement policies that will reverse decades of racially discriminatory practices that criminalized poverty, addiction and mental illness.
Reform-minded prosecutors are winning elections all over the country because people recognize that our failed experiment with over-incarceration of the poor and people of color must end.