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Thirty-nine convicted murderers sentenced to life without parole will be released onto the streets of Massachusetts after a new state Supreme Court ruling.
The convicts, who were all “emerging adults” when they were sentenced, will be released due to a court ruling that adults aged between 18 and 20 cannot be given life sentences without parole.
Since the ruling, the state’s parole board has authorized the release of 39 convicted murderers, as well as 12 individuals convicted as accessories to murder.
A further 159 cases are still waiting to be considered.
A Massachusetts Parole Board spokesperson said in a statement, “The Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Mattis requires that individuals serving life for offenses committed at ages 18, 19, or 20 be afforded an opportunity for parole consideration, and the Parole Board is obligated to comply. These complex cases require careful deliberation to protect public safety, ensure the voices of victims and survivors are heard, and evaluate an incarcerated individual’s rehabilitation and readiness for supervised release.”
“Guided by legal standards, established criteria, and best practices, the Board makes decisions that reflect accountability, rehabilitation, and public safety,” the board added.
“The Parole Board remains deeply committed to transparency and a process that respects victims and survivors while fulfilling its constitutional and statutory obligations.”
The move has prompted a heavy backlash.
Plymouth DA Timothy Cruz said in a statement, “Using the possibility of parole, and the excuse that the murderer was a young adult as a reason for granting parole, turns the parole option into an eventual get-out-of-jail-free card.”
“The blanket granting of parole without any significant recognition or consideration of the suffering of the victims is at best ill-considered. At worst, it disregards the part of the parole statute that not only requires for a prisoner not to violate the law, but in addition, that release should not be granted if ‘not compatible with the welfare of society.’”
