HUMAN RIGHTS

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Legislation to Watch: Abolishing Life Without Parole

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By Renna Ayyash

Seeking to continue the success of last session’s Criminal Justice Reform Act, St. 2018, c. 69, a number of currently proposed legislative bills aim to reprioritize rehabilitation, rather than punishment, in the Massachusetts’s prison system. The specific focus of this entry will be on An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration, S.D. 533/H.D. 154, which would abolish the sentence of life without parole (LWOP), a sentence more than one in ten Massachusetts’ prisoners are serving. Ashley Nellis, Still Life: America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences, The Sentencing Project (May 3, 2017). As this article hopes to illustrate, this proposed bill should be seriously considered for both pecuniary and financial reasons . . .

Abandoning Our Allies: Refugee Policies Leave Iraqi Employees of U.S. Armed Forces at Risk

By Colleen Maney

Aymen lives with his wife, 4-year-old daughter, and newborn baby in Iraq. He has a growing family to care for, but lives like a prisoner in his own home. As an Iraqi citizen, he worked for the U.S. Army from 2007 to 2011. Aymen recalls that, at the time, he was worried about the safety of his family. “But I believed that the U.S. government would protect us,” he explains. “Sadly, I am yet to experience that.” . . .

Every Noncitizen is a Priority in Donald Trump’s America

By Karina I. Guzman
On January 25, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively changing immigration practices. The executive order has been spoken about extensively but the change in priority enforcements has been left out of that conversation. However, operating under these new priority enforcements, immigration officials picked up five noncitizens at the Lawrence, Massachusetts Immigration Office on March 31, 2017. This action by immigration officials shocked the community and immigration attorneys alike. The change in priority enforcements has forced immigration attorneys to change the advice they are giving to their clients . . .