Indeed, the people who deal with probationers every day - judges and probation officers - have spoken strongly against moving Probation out of the judicial branch. Irrelevant. Of course judges don't want probation moved to the … [Read more...]
DeLeo moves to put Probation under Civil Service Commission
Press release: Speaker DeLeo's bill will address the immediate and potentially dangerous problem of hiring at Probation. Under the bill, new candidates will be subject to all Civil Service requirements. This will bring the department … [Read more...]
Spin is Spin
DeLeo's speculation as to how his 28-year-old godson became one of the youngest chief probation officers in state history:"I wrote a letter of recommendation for him,'' DeLeo said. "And that was the extent of my recommendation of Brian. … [Read more...]
Petro’s Out! With Update (1930 hrs 11/24/2010)
What steps do you think need to be taken next? How can grassroots apply pressure to keep this issue in the public eye and demand accountability? Do legislators realize that even their allies are disgusted with this behavior? Don't Speaker … [Read more...]
SJC releases damning probation report
I haven't read the report yet, but it sure sounds bad. The state's highest court, armed with a special counsel's report that details widespread "abuse and systemic corruption" in the state's Probation Department, said today the senior court … [Read more...]
Mike Rush and the Probation Mess
As I posted some time ago, I have been trying to get my arms around the Walsh versus Rush race for the Suffolk & Norfolk senate district (Marian Walsh's district). My online browsing led me to an interesting story at Boston.com … [Read more...]
Reforming Probation
Two recent stories have appeared in the Boston newspapers about the probation department in the state courts of Massachusetts. One story, in a Globe series, exhaustively detailed the extent to which probation officers are creatures of a … [Read more...]
How to spoil your Sunday brunch: read the Globe’s probation expose
Today's Globe has a first-rate Spotlight Team exposé about the extraordinary -- mind-boggling, really -- level of patronage and hack hiring that has gone on in the probation department since the legislature gave itself control of the … [Read more...]
“He’s my cousin, OK?”
[Probation] is ostensibly a division of the trial court but, thanks to the Legislature, operates with unusual independence.... In 1993, five years before [Probation Commissioner John] O'Brien was appointed, the Legislature eliminated the … [Read more...]