Criminologists group takes on Healey
Assails her ads, political agenda
A group of professional criminologists is challenging Kerry Healey's credentials as a ``career criminologist," saying she's a politician taking one-sided, tough-on-crime positions to get elected.
``Many criminologists are offended that she is using that authority to advance a campaign that is so out of line with justice, where a defense attorney can't be a good leader and you have to be either for victims or against them," said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminal justice professor.
``You'd think it would be wonderful for us to have someone in such political high office. It would be, if she were really true to the principles of what criminologists stand for. Many of her statements are focusing on politics more than policy," said Fox, who called Healey's professional credentials ``rather thin."
This week Fox contacted more than 100 fellow members of the American Society of Criminology asking them to form a group called Massachusetts Criminologists for Justice, to raise concerns about Healey's ``platform and her approach." Dozens agreed to join, he said.
But Healey's campaign manager, Tim O'Brien, called the broadside a politically motivated attack by ``theorists who think it's OK to release criminals back into society."
``Kerry Healey, on the other hand, has had to govern," said O'Brien. ``She's had first hand experience and has worked with law enforcement officers and others responsible for protecting our families."
Several criminal justice professors said yesterday that Healey's views on the death penalty, victims' rights, witness intimidation, and other crime issues are not supported by scientific evidence and research. For example, she has said the death penalty would deter crime; the academics say the evidence is mixed on that point.
Peter Yeager, a Boston University associate professor of sociology, said Healey's TV ad attacking Patrick for representing Carl Ray Songer, convicted of killing a Florida police officer, distorts the role of defense lawyers in the criminal justice system.
``I don't believe the ads reflect her real understanding of criminal justice and its role. That's why they are so disturbing," said Yeager, who has donated money to Patrick's campaign.
Healey calls herself a career criminologist, though her work experience has been limited. ``Before I entered politics," she said at her campaign kickoff in February, ``I worked for the US Department of Justice researching crime."
In fact, Healey worked as a consultant for Abt Associates, which conducted research for the Justice Department. According to her campaign, she worked full time for Abt for one year and part time for eight years. Her work, which mostly involved compiling the research of others, was published by the US Justice Department's National Institute of Justice. She did primary research on witness intimidation, her campaign said.
``Lieutenant Governor Healey was a consultant to Abt Associates hired to work on contract with the National Institute of Justice, the research branch of the US Department of Justice," O'Brien said. ``She clearly worked with the Justice Department."
Healey's campaign directed a reporter to Cheri Nolan, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice who worked with Healey on prisoner re entry programs starting in 2002.
``From my knowledge of her, she doesn't have a one-sided view of criminal justice issues," said Nolan, who helped Healey bring federal funds for prisoner re entry programs to Massachusetts. ``She's interested in substance abuse issues, mental health issues, people who need treatment."
In her official biography, Healey says also that she ``served as a member of the adjunct faculty at Endicott College and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell teaching criminal justice and social policy."
According to school officials, Healey taught one graduate-level course, ``Crime and Public Policy," at UMass-Lowell in 1997 and one undergraduate course, ``Social Policy," at Endicott in 2001.
She received her doctorate in political science and law from Trinity College in Dublin in 1991, eight years after she began working on her degree, according to Healey's campaign.
According to her biography, she was chosen as a visiting researcher in the International and Comparative Legal Studies program at Harvard Law School in 1985. According to Harvard Law School, students working on advanced degrees can apply and pay to gain access to facilities, students, and teachers. To be admitted, a researcher must be recommended by a faculty member.
The Patrick campaign has organized press conferences across Massachusetts to challenge Healey's ``double-talk" on crime and to contrast her criminal justice record with his. 