Reel-to-reel: A long-lost Malcolm X speech recovered

This Just In

Gangs study killed

Lawmaker Apology

By LANCE TAPLEY | February 15, 2012

On February 9 the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, which had already informally decided against LD 1707, the bill that would have created severe penalties for people associated with criminal street gangs, killed a substitute proposal for a study to be done on how to define gangs and how to have police share information on them. (See "Anti-gang Bill Dumped," by Lance Tapley, February 3.)

John Rogers, Maine Criminal Justice Academy director, told legislators at a work session he hadn't noticed "rampant" gang activity, he had a personal problem with "what a definition of a gang is," and he didn't know where proponents got their information citing a high rate of crimes caused by gangs. He said the academy, which was to be mandated to do the study, already provided training on gangs to law-enforcement officers. After sponsor Amy Volk, a Scarborough Republican, apologized for bringing the bill to the committee, its members unanimously killed it and the substitute study.

Topics: This Just In , Law, John Rogers, gangs, More

| More

Friends' Activity

Popular

Most Viewed

See more deals

view all

[ 03/23 ] The Blind Boys of Alabama @ Berklee Performance Center

[ 03/23 ] Hookman @ Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts

[ 03/23 ] Out For Youth to benefit BAGLY @ New England Aquarium

ARTICLES BY LANCE TAPLEY

ANGUS FOR REAL | March 21, 2012
Barring an act of God, utter stupidity, or an unexpected explosion of well-financed excellence from one of the second-stringers who will prevail in Maine's Democratic and Republican United States Senate primaries, Angus S. King Jr. will be the state's next US senator.

SILENCING OCCUPY | March 14, 2012
Get ready for the protests. Get ready for the warm American spring — and maybe a hot summer and fall.

99% VS. 1% — ON THE LEFT | March 07, 2012
A February 29 protest in Augusta against the power of corporate lobbyists exposed the fundamental division on the lefty side of Maine politics.

MAINE'S DONKEY PARTY LOVES THE RICH AND THE POOR — BUT CAN'T PROTECT BOTH | February 15, 2012
In the current legislative fight over Republican Governor Paul LePage's lust to slash Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) programs because of a $221-million shortfall in its budget, Democrats say over and over that they want to protect the poor, sick, and disabled people from whom the governor wants to withdraw state assistance.

GANGS STUDY KILLED | February 15, 2012
On February 9 the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, which had already informally decided against LD 1707, the bill that would have created severe penalties for people associated with criminal street gangs, killed a substitute proposal for a study to be done on how to define gangs and how to have police share information on them.

See all articles by: LANCE TAPLEY

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

THE MASSACHUSETTS REPUBLICAN PARTY IS UNDERGOING MASSIVE DISRUPTION — OR FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE, DEPENDING ON YOUR VIEW
The stereotype of Massachusetts Republican State Committee members, at the local or state level, is of genteel, moneyed Brahmins discreetly delivering their contribution checks during a pleasant social gathering over wine and brandy.

MAD MEN TRIES TO PICK UP THE PIECES
"Is it my imagination, or is the lobby full of Negroes?"

REVIEW: THE HUNGER GAMES
More powerful than fear in subduing a society, says President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in this overstuffed adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins's trilogy, is hope.

Q: WHO HATES SCHOOL REFORM?
The Boston Teachers Union (BTU) is bipolar: it wants its members treated as if they were professionals, not wage slaves.

LESSONS FROM CAPTURED TRACKS AT SXSW
For those going to SXSW to discover young artists at the beginnings of their careers, the epicenter of the megafest has moved.