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Legal experts urge clearer hate‑crime statutes, new tools for judges and communities
Summary
At a Special Commission hearing in Concord, Suffolk University law professor Christina Miller and others recommended clarifying Massachusetts statutes on hate‑motivated crimes, expanding remedies such as community impact statements, and giving judges clearer sentencing options including restorative programs and funded diversity curricula.
Christina Miller, an associate clinical professor of law at Suffolk University and former chief of community prosecutions in Suffolk County, told the Special Commission that prosecutors face recurring problems identifying, charging and winning convictions on hate‑motivated offenses.
Miller recommended statutory clarifications and new procedural tools to make prosecutions clearer and juries more able to evaluate motive. She called out two statutory formulations discussed in court practice: a statute described in testimony…
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