LWVMA banner

 

LWVMA 

Where We Stand 

 

 

Content:

Introduction

 

Program in Brief

 

Government

 

Natural Resources

 

Social Policy

 

 

 

 

 

LWVMA 

WHERE WE STAND

Social Policy: Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment

Goal:
A sound corrections system which provides opportunities for the rehabilitation of the adult and juvenile offender. (pre-1965 position)

The League supports:

    • measures to protect the civil and individual rights of the offender and to promote the offender's rehabilitation through individualized treatment (pre-1965)
    • legislation to separate administrative functions from areas of professional judgement and to delineate clear lines of authority and accountability in the state agency responsible for juvenile programs (pre-1965)measures to provide competitive salaries for trained personnel and measures to implement public personnel standards (pre-1965) programs in existing institutions and in communities for prevention, detection and treatment of juvenile delinquency (pre-1975)
    • measures that provide sufficient prison space to ensure humane living conditions for prisoners (pre-1965)
    • measures that provide sufficient prison space at the minimum security and pre-release levels to permit the gradual reintegration of the prisoner into society (1985)
    • programs within the Department of Corrections that gradually allow the prisoner more freedom and more responsibility as merited (1985)
    • programs that provide supervision and support upon release from prison (1985)
    • programs for women within the Department of Corrections that include job training, education and training for parenting (1985)
    • separate facilities for the female mentally ill and criminally insane (1985)
    • improved opportunities for mother-child contact (1985)
    • access to an adequate range of reintegration services for female inmates (1985

    measures to protect the civil and individual rights of the offender and to promote the offender's rehabilitation through individualized treatment (pre-1965)

    legislation to separate administrative functions from areas of professional judgement and to delineate clear lines of authority and accountability in the state agency responsible for juvenile programs (pre-1965)

    measures to provide competitive salaries for trained personnel and measures to implement public personnel standards (pre-1965)

    programs in existing institutions and in communities for prevention, detection and treatment of juvenile delinquency (pre-1975)

    measures that provide sufficient prison space to ensure humane living conditions for prisoners (pre-1965)

    measures that provide sufficient prison space at the minimum security and pre-release levels to permit the gradual reintegration of the prisoner into society (1985)

    programs within the Department of Corrections that gradually allow the prisoner more freedom and more responsibility as merited (1985)

    programs that provide supervision and support upon release from prison (1985)

    programs for women within the Department of Corrections that include job training, education and training for parenting (1985)

    separate facilities for the female mentally ill and criminally insane (1985)

    improved opportunities for mother-child contact (1985)

    access to an adequate range of reintegration services for female inmates (1985)

League Action

Adults
League support for measures to protect the civil and individual rights of the offender is the basis for action that seeks to protect the rights of the offender and of society.

Administration
Because of the League's commitment to a human service focus for corrections, the League unsuccessfully opposed the 1991 transfer of the Department of Corrections from the Executive Office of Human Services to the Executive Office of Public Safety.

Personnel
Every person with whom the offender has contact plays a part in the rehabilitative process. Adequate qualifications standards, improved in-service training and educational opportunities for correctional employees are important. LWVM opposes measures to weaken standards for corrections, parole and youth service personnel.

Prison facilities
LWVM supports the building of additional prison space to relieve conditions caused by overcrowding, but only when other methods of reducing the prison population have not solved the overcrowding problem. The League supports new facilities at the minimum security and pre-release level as the most productive way to alleviate prison overcrowding. (See Background for clarification of League consensus concerning prison facilities.) The League supports establishment of a mental health treatment unit and a substance abuse treatment unit at MCI Framingham.

Department of Corrections programs
Vocational training and educational opportunities, meaningful and useful prison industries, and drug and alcohol abuse prevention programs, in conjunction with humane living conditions, offer the inmate an opportunity for rehabilitation. Because more than 90 percent of people imprisoned will return to society, LWVM supports the implementation of well-defined Department of Corrections procedures that allow the prisoner freedom and responsibility as merited.

Parole
Parole is a condition under which a prisoner, having served part of a sentence in a penal institution, is released under the supervision of a parole officer. The time which must served before parole varies with the seriousness of the crime. People convicted of a violent crime must serve two-thirds of the minimum sentence; however an early parole can be obtained with the recommendation of the parole board, superintendent of the institution and commissioner of corrections. LWVM believes that certain prisoners serving life sentences, excluding those sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, should be eligible to apply for parole earlier than the 15 years stipulated.

LWVM supports measures to ease parole restrictions, believing that the supervision and support offered by parole conditions can be more advantageous to the offender than completion of a full sentence in prison. The League supports a day reporting program according to the recommendation of the parole board.

Parole legislation
The League wrote the 1960 Parole Law (Ch. 765) which makes possible a coordinated uniform parole service by removing jurisdiction for long-term offenders from county jails and houses of correction to the state Parole Board. It required that all members of the Parole Board, with the exception of the chair, receive equal pay, serve full time and hear both male and female cases. The League supported the 1971 law (Ch. 464) establishing specific requirements for membership on the Parole Board. LWVM played a role in the passage of Ch. 777 in 1972, designed to improve the custody and rehabilitation of offenders and to prepare them more effectively for reintegration into the community. Corrections law was changed in five areas: administration, community services, employment and training programs, security and state-county relations.

 

Juvenile
Reception and detention of juveniles
Detention is the holding of a child in custody while waiting to appear before the district court's juvenile session. Reception is the procedure whereby an adjudicated child, having been committed to the state, undergoes tests and evaluations before a decision on treatment is made.

The League has worked for legislation to limit the length of time a child may be held in detention, provide shelter homes for those being detained, and separate reception from detention facilities.

Juvenile courts
The court reorganization of 1978, Ch. 478, incorporated the juvenile courts into the Juvenile Court Division of the Trial Court. The division is headed by a chief administrative justice. Uniform personnel standards and administrative practices and procedures have been instituted for all juvenile courts. The League wants a merger of probate, juvenile and district court functions as they affect the family.

Juvenile programs
Only a small percentage of adjudicated juveniles are referred to the Department of Youth Services (DYS). Most are placed on probation, with counseling, remedial services and/or work or restitution programs as part of probation. DYS supplies delinquency-prevention services; LWVM supports legislation that strengthens that department.

DYS offices, organized on a regional basis, develop placement opportunities, supervise parole officers and administer community-based treatment and community delinquency prevention programs. In addition, secure facilities for the small number of juveniles considered dangerous are located throughout the state. The Department of Mental Health runs a few small intensive treatment centers for mentally disturbed adolescents.

The League was represented on the governor's 1978 task force on secure facilities and continues to be concerned with the provision of individualized programs for dangerous juveniles in appropriate, secure facilities.

Background

1983: During the the study "Alternative Solutions to Overcrowded Prisons," members toured many of the state correctional facilities as well as county houses of corrections. Services for women were examined. By revealing the differences between maximum, medium and minimum security facilities, these visits helped illustrate the "reintegration model" which gradually allows the prisoner gradually more freedom and responsibility as merited, and includes access to a range of reintegration services for female inmates. League support of individualized treatment for prisoners addresses specific concerns of women prisoners.

　

Previous Page: Child abuse Prevention and Treatment
Back to Where We Stand Contents

Next Page: Day Care