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A Dubious Tactic Against “Stop Snitchin”

May 5, 2007 on 9:12 pm | In sentencing, gangs, juveniles |

A big deal has been made about the apparent problem of “witness intimidation” in Massachusetts recently. A couple of years ago, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino tried to eschew the First Amendment by announcing that the city would actually go into retail stores and remove all “Stop Snitchin’” t-shirts. Currently, Boston has seen a rise in homicides this year, and police have been very public in saying they have faced difficulty solving them because witnesses are afraid to come forward in the face of potential reprisal. The state’s department of public safety and the National Center for Victims of Crime also recently release a report entitled “Snitches Get Stitches: Youth, Gangs, and Witness Intimidation in Massachusetts.” The report concluded, after talking to teenagers, that “witness intimidation remains a significant problem that seriously undermines the effectiveness of the criminal justice system,” though the Boston Police Chief then downplayed these findings, saying that “the fear is much more widespread than the actual instances.”

One response to this perceived widespread threat has been…a little perverse, to say the least. Specifically, a bill has recently been introduced in the Massachusetts legislature that would subject juveniles (aged 14-16) charged with witness intimidation to the same punishment as adults - up to 10 years in state prison. It would also make these trials public instead of keeping them closed like other juvenile proceedings are right now. These procedures are currently reserved only for a few crimes, such as violent charges involving guns.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said witness intimidation is a huge and growing problem, hampering the prosecution of serious cases. The overwhelming majority of his office’s drug and gun cases, he said, involve some degree of witness or victim intimidation.

“When a young person has reached the point where they would resort to intimidation and violence to silence others, it makes sense for prosecutors to have the option of treating those juveniles as adults,” Conley said. “I don’t know that it should be applied in every case — most of the juveniles can be turned around. But some have demonstrated a great capacity for violence.”

Let’s take a step back for a minute here. Has it occurred to anyone that, if a KID as young as 14 is being charged with witness intimidation, that he is perhaps being used as a pawn by adults to do their dirty work? Or that he still has a chance to actually go somewhere in life, a chance that will be completely wiped out if he spends 10 years behind bars with much older inmates? There’s a reason that there is a separate court system for KIDS under 17. This tough talk is ridiculous and I sincerely hope that our legislature is smart enough to see past the rhetoric to the devastating impact this law could have.