Rachael Rollins is the Suffolk County district attorney, the chief law enforcement official for Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop. She was elected by a landslide, campaigning on a platform centered on criminal justice system reform.
Taking office in January 2019 as Suffolk County’s 16th district attorney, Rollins is the first woman to be elected to that position in county history, and the first-ever woman of color to serve as a Massachusetts district attorney.
District Attorney Rollins has been consistently outspoken in her pledge to effect meaningful, substantive reform to the criminal legal system, as she prefers to call it. For example, instead of using her limited resources to prosecute low-level misdemeanor charges — which are often symptomatic not of criminal intent but of mental illness, substance use disorder or poverty — Rollins seeks to hold them accountable while providing access to services and treatment to address the underlying issues that likely led the individual to offend.
This progressive approach is designed to reduce the likelihood that an individual will reoffend and improve the safety and wellbeing of impacted communities. She also led the charge in filing an injunction in federal court to end civil arrests in Massachusetts state courthouses to ensure that all community members have equal access to justice through the courts.
Prior to seeking elected office, Rollins served as a field attorney with the National Labor Relations Board in Boston, safeguarding employees’ rights. Beginning in 2007, Rollins served as an assistant United States attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, handling cases that included fraud, employment discrimination, sexual violence, child abuse, gun trafficking, narcotics and public integrity matters.
In 2011, she was selected by Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration as the first person of color to serve as general counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and was soon named the first female general counsel of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. In 2013, she was recruited to become the chief legal counsel of the Massachusetts Port Authority.
Rollins’ list of accomplishments are nothing short of spectacular, as evidenced in her full bio here: https://www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/about-the-office/meet-district-attorney-rollins
You can listen to our BSU podcast discussion via any of your favorite audio platforms: SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play.
Boston Speaks Up · 050: Suffolk Country District Attorney Rachael Rollins
Below is a glimpse at some of the questions and topics we unpacked in our podcast discussion.
What was your childhood like growing up in Cambridge, MA?
How did being a terrific athlete help propel you forward?
What compelled you to pursue law?
Discuss the change management and leadership program you participated in at Harvard Business School.
Congratulations on winning your battle against breast cancer and being healthy and cancer free. How did that experience change you?
Why become a district attorney? Do you feel you have a better shot of making changes from the inside rather than outside or through politics?
You oversee an office of approximately 300 people handling approximately 25,000 new cases each year. What’s your secret to leading such a large team across so many projects?
In your words, why was addressing cash bail and pre-trial release such an important issue to focus on in your policy memo?
You’ve been outspoken that releases from prison are needed to avoid “a death warrant” for inmates in the midst of COVID-19. Are you making accelerated progress to release inmates from prison as a result of COVID-19?
In response to your statements calling for systemic change to the crimimal justice system following the murder of George Floyd, the Boston Police Department retorted with a written statement calling your statements “dangerous, divisive, and wholly unwarranted” (WGBH report). How has your relationship with BPD evolved in the two months since that incident? Can you elaborate on the monthly lunch with police chiefs / commissioners and efforts to bridge better communication and improve relations?
America locks up more people (2 million+) than any other country in the world. You are implementing policies to meet this head on. Can you expand on providing access to services and treatment you’re providing access to offenders help reduce incarceration numbers in Suffolk County?
Who are your biggest allies in Boston -- political, private, law enforcement, etc -- as you aim to achieve your agenda to reform the criminal justice system and level the playing field for underrepresented people?
Are you familiar with Project Entrepreneur out of Boston College? It’s a startup bootcamp for people with criminal records and returning citizens.
###
You can follow BSU on Twitter at @BostonSpeaksUp, discover more inspiring stories at the Boston Speaks Up blog, recommend BSU guests by contacting bostonspeaksup@gmail.com, and sign up for the Boston Speaks Up newsletter below.
