Statement of District Attorney Rachael Rollins on her Confirmation as US Attorney for the District of MA
BOSTON, December 8, 2021— Following a vote today by the United States Senate, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins was confirmed as the next United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
“I’m deeply honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve my community, my Commonwealth and my country as the next United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts,” District Attorney Rollins said. “Every policy and initiative that I have put in place as Suffolk County District Attorney has been designed to improve the safety and wellbeing of the communities I serve, to improve the public’s trust in law enforcement and our courts and to improve the fairness and equity of the criminal legal system. I’m incredibly proud of the work every member of my office has done to achieve these goals, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to lead an office of such dedicated, compassionate and talented professionals. I look forward to bringing these data-driven, evidenced-based approaches and a heightened emphasis on culturally competent, trauma-informed victim services to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.”
During her three years as the chief law enforcement official in Suffolk County – which includes the cities of Boston, Chelsea and Revere and the town of Winthrop – District Attorney Rollins has valued her office’s partnerships with law enforcement and the communities we serve to improve public safety and public health. These partnerships have been instrumental in our work improving public safety and the administration of justice in Suffolk County. Data from the Boston Police Department shows that, as of December 5, 2021, the most serious categories of crime – referred to as Part 1 crime – have dropped. To date, incidents of Part 1 violent crime in 2021 are down by more than 20 percent from the five-year average, including significant reductions in homicides and shootings. In addition, Part 1 property crimes are down by 14 percent. These reductions occurred at a time that other major cities have experienced increases in violence.
District Attorney Rollins has been able to focus her efforts on targeting the most serious and violent crime because of her smart on crime policies. Upon taking office, District Attorney Rollins introduced a policy of presumptively diverting or declining to prosecute certain categories of non-violent, low-level misdemeanor offenses that are more indicative of mental illness, substance use disorder, food or housing insecurity, poverty or homelessness than of criminal intent. This presumption is rebuttable, and Suffolk prosecutors continue to move forward with prosecutions in approximately 25 percent of these cases. The effectiveness of this approach in reducing crime is supported by research published in 2021 by the National Bureau of Economic Research. An independent team of academic researchers reviewed more than 67,000 Suffolk County cases that were filed over 17 years. Their findings indicate that individuals who were not prosecuted for nonviolent misdemeanors are 58 percent less likely to be charged again in the next two years than those who are prosecuted for nonviolent, low-level crimes. The study suggests that aggressively prosecuting low-level crimes could actually lead to more crime, while policies of declination and nonprosecution can help reduce criminal involvement.
By realigning her office’s priorities, District Attorney Rollins has able to reinvest her office’s limited resources to more effectively address serious and violent felony offenses that cause the greatest harm in the communities she serves. These efforts include the creation of the Crime Strategies Bureau to use data-driven and innovative approaches to investigating and prosecuting offenses, including drug and human trafficking and gang violence. District Attorney Rollins also launched the Project for Unsolved Suffolk Homicides (PUSH) to utilize her office’s untapped resources to review unsolved homicide cases with the goal of identifying new investigative avenues that were unavailable at the time of the initial investigation. To date, District Attorney Rollins’ staff have reviewed upwards of 200 homicide case files with fresh eyes. This effort has resulted in indictments in three homicides that occurred during the 1980s and 1990s.
In addition to her increased investment in addressing serious and violent crime and improving community trust, District Attorney Rollins has worked to improve the delivery of services to victims, survivors, and communities impacted by crime. She hired the first licensed independent clinical social worker to lead the Victim Witness Assistance Program in the office’s history, increased the unit’s staffing by 25 percent and increased by 50 percent the number of victim witness advocates on her staff who speak at least one language in addition to English.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 20,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.