BOSTON — Boston is now releasing violent criminal defendants — not because they’ve been found innocent, but because no one is available to represent them in court.

Under an emergency order known as the Lavallee Protocol, judges in Suffolk and Middlesex counties must release anyone held more than seven days without a lawyer. After 45 days, the charges are dismissed entirely. That order was reaffirmed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on July 3, according to reporting from WBUR.

Some of the cases involve assault with a dangerous weapon, battery on police officers, and illegal firearms. These aren’t clerical errors. These are violent, high-risk charges — and they’re being dropped because the state failed to provide legal counsel.

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The lawyers warned them

Bar advocates — private attorneys who handle public defense cases — have been raising alarms for years. They’re paid $65 an hour with no benefits, one of the lowest rates in the country. For comparison, Massachusetts pays court-appointed guardians $125 an hour in probate cases.

When the Legislature refused to increase the rate in the FY25 budget, the bar advocates stopped accepting new cases. That walkout began May 28.

As of early July, more than 1,300 defendants across the state were without counsel, according to the Committee for Public Counsel Services. That includes over 1,190 unrepresented individuals in Suffolk and Middlesex counties alone (WBUR) — many of them charged with serious violent offenses.

With no lawyers to take their cases, judges are now required to release those defendants.

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Judges forced to let them walk

The Supreme Judicial Court called the emergency order a “stopgap measure,” but for many defendants, it means complete freedom. After seven days in custody without counsel, they are released. After 45 days, charges may be dismissed altogether.

There is no requirement that the charges be minor. And no guarantee that the defendants will return to court.

In practice, that means dangerous suspects walking out of jail because the state didn’t fund their right to representation.

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Somehow, there’s still money for everything else

While the court system is forced to cut violent defendants loose, Beacon Hill continues to fund other priorities. The state’s FY25 budget includes $172 million in migrant housing transition aid, according to publicly available figures.

The emergency shelter system may be winding down, but the spending has continued under different line items.

This isn’t about immigration. It’s about choices. The same leaders who couldn’t fund basic courtroom functions had no issue writing nine-figure checks elsewhere.

When the essential parts of government — courts, safety, defense — are treated as afterthoughts, this is what happens.

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This isn’t about politics. It’s about competence.

Massachusetts residents aren’t asking for miracles. They’re asking for the basics: functioning courts, a real justice system, and streets that feel safe.

Instead, they’re watching violent defendants walk free while officials call it a “process issue.”

That’s not a process issue. That’s a governance failure.

Massachusetts didn’t run out of money.
It just stopped spending it where it matters.

BAMW is the Chief Political Correspondent at Mass Daily News.