Civil Rights and the Public Trust
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/08/20/clerks-secret-court-hearings-still-differ-widely-rulings/uVtIqiRCgfWwInt4ZmzpqJ/story.html?event=event12
From one courthouse to the next, Massachusetts clerk magistrates and assistant clerks continue to differ widely in how they handle requests for criminal charges reviewed during confidential hearings, according to new court data provided to the Globe.
The newly released data for 2018, issued in response to a Globe request, indicated clerks in Worcester District Court approved 83 percent of applications for criminal charges after so-called show cause hearings, while clerks in Chelsea District Court approved just 26 percent of requests for charges. The court data also suggested white defendants were slightly more likely to avoid charges last year than people of color. The hearings and files are typically closed to the public when cases are dismissed, so the statistics are a rare window into the uneven results inside the system.
