The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has agreed to a settlement that would pay back fees associated with legal cases, probation and fines for tens of thousands of people who were wrongfully convicted of drug charges, according to court documents.
Highlights
- $14 million is estimated to go to about 31,000 people whose criminal convictions were vacated.
- The settlement still needs to be approved by a judge.
- The amounts are meant to refund fees incurred, including: victim-witness fees, probation fees, GPS monitoring, court costs, fines, drug analysis criminal assessment fees, parole fees, and driver license reinstatement fees.
- “Shifting costs to ‘users’ of the criminal legal system creates extraordinary hardships for defendants and their families,” one of the attorneys representing people whose convictions have been vacated said in a press release.
- “In addition to erecting sometimes insurmountable barriers to re-entry, legal financial obligations require