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- civil rights and civil liberties (13)
- consumer protection (10)
- economic growth and jobs (15)
- education (23)
- environment (10)
- general (2)
- health care (20)
- housing (12)
- labor (16)
- preamble (5)
- safety justice and crime prevention (14)
- social security and the safety net (7)
- taxes and public services (7)
- voting procedures (6)
I'd like to add a new sentence to this section.
ReplyDelete"We stand against the relegation of mental health and substance abuse treatment to our prisons and jails, and we support increased services for those with mental health or substance abuse problems outside of incarceration."
We support humane prisons which emphasize the training and education of prisoners to reduce recidivism and increase the likelihood of successful reentry into society on discharge.
ReplyDeleteWe propose TWO NEW ITEMS:
ReplyDelete1) "We support careful vetting of applicants for the judiciary and for police, fire, and other first responders."
2) "We support meaningful and accountable oversight by citizen councils of all members of the judiciary and of police, fire, and other first responders."
Support is needed for swift and harsh punishment and much longer sentences for unspeakable crimes against animals
ReplyDeleteSafety, Justice and Crime Prevention
ReplyDeleteWe support increased local aid to cities and towns across the Commonwealth, to provide for more law enforcement and fire protection. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT ALL LOSS OF FUNDING FOR POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS BE RESTORED. CITIZEN SAFEY IS IMPERILED.
WE URGE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TO INITIATE ACTION TO ADDRESS THE NEED FOR FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS IN WHITE COLLAR CRIMES WHICH ARE OFTEN SCAMS DIRECTED TOWARD THE ELDERLY.
We support immediate repeal of all laws prohibiting the possession and use of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc. The so-called War on Drugs commenced in 1909 with the establishment of the International Opium Commission. 100 years later, billions of dollars are wasted in the international pursuit of the "illegal" supply chain of narcotics and other drugs. Worldwide criminality has led to narco-states, vast "law-enforcement" undertakings, criminalization of our neighborhoods, incarceration of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens.
ReplyDeleteAs we have witnessed with alcohol, tobacco, firearms, gambling, etc. no amount of prohibition will eradicate participation. Better that government control the cultivation, importation, manufacture and distribution of drugs, ensuring quality, consistency, fair pricing, safety, and collecting appropriate taxes.
From Asian American Democrats Platform Hearing:
ReplyDeleteJOEL BUENAVENTURA, DEMOCRAT FROM QUINCY:
It is important to have more diverse appointments to the judiciary. There are only five judges of Asian American descent in the state.
It is important that the Asian American community have more representation at all levels of the judicial system.
When there are civil, probate, or criminal issues before the court, it is important to have a jury of one's peers.
Small towns with volunteer ambulance squads are often unable to respond to an accident as there are not two EMT's available to ride on the ambulance. This requirement is a hardship for such departments. More attention should be paid to the affect these kinds of mandates including required training have on small towns who will never be able to afford a paid department. Citizens in an emergency should not have to wait for private ambulances that have to travel long distances.
ReplyDeleteRequired FEMA and Homeland Security trainings and meetings are also a hardship on small towns.
We support requiring gun safety education in the use of firearms before a permit can be issued.
ReplyDeleteReform Criminal Justice system. The "three strikes and you are out" is outmoded,, doesn't work and costs the state too much money. Our criminal justice system should concentrate more on rehabilitation than on punishment.
ReplyDeleteI’m a member of the Boxford Democratic Town Committee, and I am proposing language on the subject of public health/child protection.
ReplyDeleteTen Reasons the Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform Must Include a Plank for
Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
1. Child sexual abuse is a “silent, violent epidemic” according to the American
Medical Association; its victims include infants, toddlers, young children, and
adolescents.
2. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) were sexually abused by an adult or older child before the age of
18.
3. A seminal study by the CDC confirms that as child victims become adults they may
engage in high-risk health behaviors, e.g. substance abuse, over-eating, smoking to
cope with the trauma of their abuse. These behaviors, in turn, lead to the most
frequent causes of disease and death in the U.S., such as heart disease, diabetes
and cancer.
4. 90% of Massachusetts residents polled believe that child sexual abuse is a
serious problem in the Commonwealth, 85% believe child sexual abuse can be
prevented, and 64% have confirmed their interest in participating in local community
trainings to learn more about how they can prevent it.
5. In 2002, the CDC sought to award its first-time grants to states to develop
innovative strategies to address child sexual abuse by building adult and community
responsibility for prevention. In response, the Massachusetts Child Sexual Abuse
Prevention Partnership, a public/private collaboration of 26 statewide organizations
led by Massachusetts Citizens for Children, was formed. It succeeded in securing one
of only three 5-year grants in the country to take on the challenge of prevention.
6. Since then thousands of parents, teachers, childcare providers, and professionals
from youth-serving organizations have been trained by the Partnership’s Enough Abuse
Campaign in the pilot sites of North Quabbin, Gloucester and Newton, and in other
communities including Boston, Waltham, Maynard, North Attleboro, Foxboro, Topsfield,
Middleton, Cambridge, Northampton, etc. Numerous new communities are seeking to
become Campaign sites.
7. Health/mental health systems, courts, law enforcement and child protection
agencies in Massachusetts spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year dealing
with the aftermath of child sexual abuse. A strong investment in prevention holds
the best promise of ending the epidemic and reducing the significant fiscal and
human costs.
8. The Enough Abuse Campaign secured $1.2 million federal dollars over 5 years to
develop, test and evaluate effective prevention strategies and programs. Significant
in-kind contributions from state and private Partnership organizations and
communities have been made and the commitment to expand the Campaign is strong.
9. The CDC has hailed Massachusetts as “…one of the first states in the nation to
lead a trailblazing effort to prevent child sexual abuse by building a movement of
concerned citizens, community by community.”
10. The groundwork has been laid. A serious commitment from state leaders is now
needed to support and sustain the Enough Abuse Campaign and build the movement to
end child sexual abuse all across our state.
• The American Medical Association has labeled the sexual abuse of children a “violent silent epidemic.” (See Note 1 below).
ReplyDelete• According the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18 and more that 80% of the incidents are never reported to authorities. (See Note 1 below).
• In the past 7 (seven) years visibility of this issue and the public’s understanding of it has significantly increased, due in large part to the revelations of the Catholic Church’s clergy sexual abuse crisis. (See Note 1 below).
• One of the notorious characteristics of this epidemic is that the nature of the crime is so injurious to childhood victims – causing such a degree of psychological and spiritual damage – that it takes decades for victims to begin to deal with the toll that has been exacted upon them by their perpetrator, let alone having the ability to come forward to seek justice.
• The disparity between the time it takes for victims to come forward and the current statute of limitations represents a ‘justice gap’. (See Note 1 below).
• This justice gap currently shields perpetrators from prosecution, thereby allowing them to go undetected in communities across the Commonwealth where they continue their pattern of sexually abusing children, destroying their lives in the process.
• Effectively addressing this epidemic will require the active involvement of many sectors of society including public health, law enforcement, and private citizens alike through greater public awareness, and through the robust statewide implementation of effective child sexual abuse prevention initiatives, such as The Enough Abuse Campaign in Massachusetts which works to build adult and community responsibility for prevention. (See Note 1 below).
• Additionally, it will also require ongoing legislative reform to update laws that do not reflect today’s understanding of the impact of these crimes on victims, the justice gap, and the nature of perpetrators to repeat these crimes throughout their lives.
• Statute of limitations reform must be enacted to protect children today as well as to provide justice for those who have been abused.
• Reforming the statute of limitations will not – and should not – lessen the legal protections of those accused. Prosecutors and plaintiff attorneys will still be required to make their case on the quality of evidence before a court of law. (See Note 1 below).
• Historically, efforts to reform issues effecting children often fall on deaf ears on Capitol Hill – the rights of children are often secondary to those who can vote.
PROPOSED: It is proposed that the Massachusetts Democratic Party adopt a plank in the party’s platform that states the Party’s commitment to addressing the tragedy and social cost of childhood sexual abuse by supporting effective, adult- and community-focused child sexual abuse prevention efforts, as well as through legislative and judicial reform.
Note 1: Jetta Bernier and John Mackey, “A justice gap for victims of child sex abuse,” The Boston Globe, March 12, 2006.
Joseph Gochinski would like the platform to include that the “war on drugs” is an inappropriate use of public funds and resources.
ReplyDeleteRestore the Rule of Law: The Democratic Party calls for the passage of legislation to require complete transparency in all levels of government - local, state and national - as to matters of justice, substantive policy, political process and timing. We call for the passage of legislation to guarantee to all citizens the opportunity and powers to affect the direction of all public enactments, as such is the essence and duty of democracy, and for legislation upholding and protecting the rights of individuals and of our representatives in Congress under the Constitution wherever they have been found to have been weakened, undermined or allowed to become moribund. We revere the Constitution of the United States and find abhorrent acts contrary to its intent, such as excessive executive privilege leading to "preemptive" war. We instruct our Congressional delegation to support and work for the appointment of a special prosecutor to hold any person at any level of government to account, who is found to be responsible for willfully violating the laws and the Constitution, willfully violating the rights of citizens and the rights guaranteed to foreigners under international treaties, employing or advocating torture, waging illegal wars with wanton disregard for the lives and safety of civilians, and promiscuously ignoring, bypassing and sabotaging the laws, resolutions and subpoenas issued by the Congress of the United States.
ReplyDeletePenalties for possession of powder cocaine and crack cocaine should be the same. The scale comes down much harder on crack-users.
ReplyDeleteSupport Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Reform. Go beyond Governor Patrick’s reform.
ReplyDelete• Public safety is a priority—we need this.
ReplyDeleteWe agree with the promotion of alternative sentencing for Minor Crimes to reduce the load on the judicial bodies in our state.
ReplyDeleteSAFETY, JUSTICE AND CRIME PREVENTION (4TH bullet point)
ReplyDeleteSteve Hoeschele (Amherst) asks the Party to take a stand against human trafficking: the recruitment, transportation, or harboring of a person through force, fraud, etc. for the purpose of sexual or labor exploitation or other nefarious purposes.
Between 14,000 and 17,000 human beings are trafficked into the U.S. each year. This does not count those trafficked within the U.S.
Federal law and the laws of most states criminalize trafficking. Massachusetts law, however, is still silent. We need legislation to (1) provide substantial funds to rehabilitate victims; (2) educate law enforcement, public officials, & health personnel; and (3) provide tough state penalties.
Ergo, re the 4th bullet point under “Safety, Justice & Crime Prevention,” Sarah McKee (Amherst) moved to include support for state legislation against human trafficking. Mike Bell (Amherst) seconded. The item now reading:
“We support strong legislation against hate crimes, domestic violence, elder abuse, child abuse and sexual assault, as well as against human trafficking.”
Passed unanimously.
We support funding for fire and life safety education programs.
ReplyDeleteWe support programs that promote gun safety education. Commonwealth has an Eddie Eagle gun safety education day.