Quote:
Originally Posted by Swimmer
Second offense is a jail only disposition.
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Which can be a suspended sentence, as the "mandatory" 10 day sentence for a first offense ALWAYS was up until last week when the new law passed.
For those of you who occasionally over-imbibe and walk around in public--disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace are also now civil infractions for first offenses.
The rationale for all of this is to eliminate the necessity of appointing free lawyers for people charged with these offenses, who can't pay. Under Mass. law you are entitled to free representation by counsel, if you're indigent, if any of the charged offenses can be punished with a jail sentence--no matter how remote the chances of that are.
They passed some other "revenue-enhancement" legislation that affects the court system:
People who are placed on "administrative" probation (ie, those who are given a CWOF or are otherwise bound to "good behavior" by the court, but who don't have to be supervised by a probation officer) now pay $50 a month instead of the previous $21. People who are actually being supervised by a probation officer pay $65 and this wasn't changed.
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