Massachusetts lawmakers rallied at the State House in Boston Thursday in support of a criminal justice reform bill.
State Senator Adam Hinds, a Democrat from Pittsfield, says lawmakers are working on a comprehensive package.
“Less incarceration and more treatment for drug-related offenses. Changes to, so that folks who cannot pay for bail do not spend time in jail unnecessarily. Juvenile justice and raise the age to 19,” Hind says. “It goes a long way towards saying ‘the war on drugs is over,’ while still giving tools to law enforcement to say we are in the middle of an epidemic in regard to heroin. It’s a good balance.”
The 115-page bill is working its way through the Senate Ways and Means Committee.