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Survivors and advocates press for statewide office and task force to review unsolved homicides
Summary
Lawmakers and survivor groups told the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight that bills to create an Office of Unsolved Homicides and a statewide task force would give families a formal path to case review, increase transparency and address racial disparities in clearance rates.
Senator Liz Miranda, chair of the committee hearing, told lawmakers and advocates on June 24 that she supports S.2174 and S.2177, bills to create a centralized Office of Unsolved Homicides and a statewide Unsolved Homicides Task Force to review long-unsolved cases and give families a formal path to petition for reinvestigation.
The bills would place an office within the Attorney General’s Office, allow families to request a formal review of cases unsolved for three years, and require a written response within 90 days that “identif[ies] missed investigative steps” and reexamines forensic evidence, testimony and records, proponents said.
Why it matters: Testimony from the Lewis D. Brown Peace Institute, Northeastern University researchers and survivor-advocates emphasized scale and disparity. Pace McConkie Jr., policy manager at…
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