BOSTON (AP) - The Latest on Senate consideration of wide-ranging bill on crime and punishment (all times local):
1:40 p.m.
The Massachusetts Senate has approved a bill that calls for the most sweeping overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system in decades.
The Senate voted 27-10 in support of the bill around 1:30 a.m. Friday following hours of debate.
The bill proposes changes in everything from how children are treated by the courts to how solitary confinement is used in state prisons.
It would eliminate nearly all mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders, while also increasing penalties for trafficking in fentanyl, a synthetic opioid blamed for escalating the opioid addiction epidemic.
Top Senate Democrats say the legislation will offer alternatives to incarceration.
A majority of the state’s district attorneys oppose large portions of the bill, saying they ignore the interests of crime victims.
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2 p.m.
The Massachusetts Senate is considering a bill that calls for the most sweeping overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system in decades.
The 113-page bill being debated on Thursday proposes changes in everything from how children are treated by the courts to how solitary confinement is used in state prisons.
It would eliminate nearly all mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders while also increasing penalties for trafficking in fentanyl, a synthetic opioid blamed for escalating the opioid addiction epidemic.
The legislation is backed by top Senate Democrats who say it will offer alternatives to incarceration, while reducing the number of people who return to prison after committing new crimes.
A majority of the state’s district attorneys oppose large portions of the bill, saying they ignore the interests of crime victims.
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