One Catch-22 of criminal justice reform is that law enforcement will always ask for more powers, whether crime is down or crime is up. If crime is up, they need more powers to deal with criminals who have “gotten the upper hand.” If crime is down, they need more powers to keep it from rising [...]
“Time to Get Smart on Crime”: New Report Pans Massachusetts’ Criminal Justice Practices
by Alex Marthews on March 26, 2013
The Boston Globe is publicizing a new report from Community Resources for Justice and MassInc, focusing on Massachusetts’ unexpectedly draconian and wasteful criminal justice policies. We heartily recommend that you read the whole thing, but here are the striking take-aways. We are spending 6% more on incarceration than we are spending on education. Low-level drug [...]
Microscope Monday: Massachusetts’ proposed Electronic Privacy Act (S. 796 / HD 1014)
by Alex Marthews on March 25, 2013
Howdy and good morning, lovers of the Internet freedoms! It’s time for another in our “Microscope Mondays” series, where we take a good hard look at pending legislation here in Massachusetts relevant to surveillance. Previously, we’ve covered a praiseworthy effort to restrict the use of drones for law enforcement purposes and Martha Coakley’s should-be-better-known “Let’s [...]
Not A Clown Car Law: Comparing Massachusetts’ Electronic Wiretapping Laws to Connecticut’s
by Alex Marthews on March 11, 2013
The way you hear Martha Coakley tell it, Massachusetts’ laws relating to when you can and cannot issue an electronic wiretapping warrant are about as effective as using a clown car to fly folks to the moon. They were passed in the 1960s, man! Don’t you know you can’t trust any law over 30? Of [...]
Alex Marthews, CDFAR President, and Jamie O’Keefe of the Mass Pirates, on Two Hotheads Radio discussing the Mass. electronic wiretapping bill
by Alex Marthews on February 5, 2013
Transcript runs from around 11-20 minutes: HEATHER MACK (host): We have some guests in the studio. We have Jamie from the Mass Pirates Party, whom we’ve had on before. We also have a new guest, Alex Marthews, from the Campaign for [Digital] Fourth Amendment Rights, also from the Pirate Party [sic], here to talk a [...]
The new Coakley bill, “An Act Updating the Wire Interception Law”, under a microscope
by Alex Marthews on January 30, 2013
Want to know the details of what the new Coakley bill, An Act Updating the Wire Interception Law, really includes? Wonderful. I can already tell we’re going to be friends. Here’s an advance hint: What do simple marijuana possession,annoying telephone calls, burglary, neglecting to depart a public assembly on the orders of police, failing to [...]
Won’t Somebody Think of the Children!!!1!!!: Mass Law Enforcement Proposes Massive Expansion of Wiretapping Powers
by Alex Marthews on January 29, 2013
Some folks might be ashamed to use the bodies of dead kids as cover for a power grab. That clearly doesn’t include Massachusetts Attorney-General and failed Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley. The Globe reports that Coakley, along with state senator Gene O’Flaherty (D-Chelsea) and state rep John Keenan (D-Salem), have introduced a new bill to [...]