Rep. Rogers Calls for House to Pass Crime Bill

Press release from Rep. John Rogers office

Standing with all fourteen Massachusetts District Attorneys at the State House, state Rep. John H. Rogers (D-Norwood), demanded that his colleagues in the House of Representatives pass a crime bill this session that addresses reforms on sentencing, parole, sex offenders, firearms offenses, domestic violence and wiretaps.

The bill is aimed at updating and reforming existing Massachusetts laws allowing for prosecutors and public safety officials to better perform their jobs and solve cases. Rogers listened to the frustrations of the state’s top prosecutors, including Norfolk DA Michael Morrissey, Cape and Islands DA Michael O’Keefe and Suffolk DA Dan Conley about the need for a comprehensive crime package.

“There’s a serious problem with our law enforcement laws and that’s because our current laws are not current at all,” said Rogers, a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who supports the reform bill.

The reforms are aimed at updating laws related to the following areas:

• Domestic violence: the bill provides a technical fix for a law enacted four years ago that targets repeat domestic violence offenders
• Domestic violence: a hallmark of the most violent domestic abusers is the strangulation or suffocation of their victims to the point of loss of consciousness. This bill creates a new statute to prosecute this conduct.Sex offenders:  the bill requires sex offenders to register with their local police department within two days of release from incarceration, and requires the Sex Offender Registry Board to expedite its classification of offenders.
• Firearms: the bill creates new crimes addressing felons in possession of firearms, assault and battery by firearm and attempting to disarm a police officer, and increases the penalties for multiple convictions of carrying a dangerous weapon.
• DNA: the bill would permit collection of DNA from convicted felons via buccal (inner cheek) swabs with a Q tip, as opposed to the current more expensive process of a blood draw. The state’s DNA database will also expand to include felony arrestees.
• Wiretaps: the current Massachusetts statute was passed in 1968 and was drafted to address the most pressing public safety concern at that time - organized crime. The statute would be updated to make it an effective tool in fighting street gang and drug-dealing activities.

"Criminals over the years have developed new tools to commit crime, so it is imperative that we give our law enforcement officers new tools to combat crime,” Rogers said.