Criminal Justice
Lawsuit: DCYF confirmed sexual misconduct at her group home. Then abandoned her.
In early 1993, a tip led the Concord police to a hotel, where they found a 16-year-old girl who said she’d been held there for about a week, enduring multiple rapes, by the owner of her state-sanctioned group home in Deerfield, according to a court record. The state removed her and the other girls it […]
Bill would add telehealth services for inmates
When inmates need specialized treatment for complex mental health needs like gender dysphoria and delusional disorders or forensic risk evaluations, the choices are often limited and expensive: transport an inmate out of state to a specialist or bring the specialist to New Hampshire. Those hurdles would be eliminated by a bill that would allow the […]
Bail reform debate has some proposing an end to bail commissioners
For Thomas Anderson, a phone call at 2 in the morning is an invitation, not a nuisance. On the other line is likely a police department and a person who has just been arrested and charged. And as a bail commissioner, Anderson is one of 100 people in the state who can determine, at this […]
NH Department of Corrections sees surging overtime, medical costs
The Department of Corrections is reporting significant shortfalls in its overtime and medical budgets, prompting an appeal to the state for help. The two requests going before the Executive Council Wednesday are indicative of ongoing challenges at the DOC, particularly the men’s state prison in Concord. Historic staffing shortages came to a head in March […]
With massage parlors unlicensed, human trafficking is difficult to police
Federal law enforcement officers have discovered illicit massage parlors in every New Hampshire county, with victims of human trafficking being forced to have sex with customers. The National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 75 victims in New Hampshire in 2021, most involving sex in illicit massage parlors and spas. Law enforcement officers say the state’s lax […]
House passes Sununu Center bill without legal changes that worried child advocates
Advocates for children, law enforcement, and state mental health officials prevailed Thursday in persuading House members to reject legislation they said would have risked putting more juveniles at the Sununu Youth Services Center. In doing so, the state moves closer to replacing the 144-bed correctional center with a much smaller therapeutic facility, advocates said. That […]
Advocates: Limiting police use of Sununu Center will hurt, not help, kids
Over the objections of child advocates, a House committee voted Wednesday to reduce the number of offenses that would make a juvenile eligible for detention at the Sununu Youth Services Center. They warned rather than help juveniles, the law change could lead to more juveniles being charged. There are also questions about whether the bill […]
Pandemic stress, gangs, and utter fear fueled a rise in teen shootings
Diego never imagined he’d carry a gun. Not as a child, when shots were fired outside his Chicago-area home. Not at age 12, when one of his friends was gunned down. Diego’s mind changed at 14, when he and his friends were getting ready to walk to midnight Mass for the feast of Our Lady […]
No call from Sununu for DCYF review in Laconia boy’s homicide
Gov. Chris Sununu declined Wednesday to say whether he will call for a review of the state’s handling of nearly 25 reports of suspected abuse against four Laconia children, one of whom died from blunt force trauma in 2019, shortly after the last report. The homicide of Dennis “Boo” Vaughan Jr., 5, remains open and […]
No arrest, no comment: The 5-year-old homicide victim the state’s not talking about
Judy Anderson had grown impatient by the time she marched into the Laconia mayor’s office in October with a photo of 5-year-old Dennis Vaughan Jr. to remind him that the boy’s 2019 homicide in his grandmother’s Laconia apartment remains unsolved. Anderson, a Gilford retiree who didn’t know Dennis “Boo” Vaughan Jr., said she’s done waiting […]
A law was meant to free sick or aging inmates. Instead, some are left to die in prison.
This story originally appeared in Kaiser Health News. Jimmy Dee Stout was serving time on drug charges when he got grim news early last year. Doctors told Stout, now 62, the sharp pain and congestion in his chest were caused by stage 4 lung cancer, a terminal condition. “I’m holding on, but I would like […]
Attorney general seeks $5 million in federal money for victim services
This story was updated Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, at 12:30 p.m. to clarify which victim services are supported with federal funding. The effects of COVID-19’s social isolation, health problems, and job loss continue to drive increases in calls to domestic violence and sexual assault hotlines, emergency shelters, and child abuse referrals, according to the Department […]