ACLU study finds only 17% of Massachusetts residents can name their county’s sheriff

Have you learnt the identify of your county’s sheriff? When you’re like 83% of your fellow Massachusetts residents, it’s possible you don’t, in keeping with a newly launched survey by the ACLU of Massachusetts.

“There’s a actual potential to alter how voters view sheriffs and to alter how they have a look at candidates for sheriff, and to extend participation by informing them in that method,” mentioned Chris Anderson of Beacon Analysis, who carried out the ballot alongside the ACLU.

The ACLU carried out this analysis in January upfront of a marketing campaign referred to as “Know Your Sheriff,” with the intent of informing voters concerning the position sheriffs play within the state’s felony justice system forward of this yr’s election.

The group carried out the same marketing campaign for district attorneys in 2018, and located notable will increase in ballots forged for DA races: a 16% enhance in ballots forged for DA in Middlesex County, a 35% enhance in Suffolk County, and a 123% enhance in Berkshire County.

Amongst Beacon Analysis’s findings this time round, 52% of Bristol County residents knew the identify of their sheriff, Thomas Hodgson, an outspoken Donald Trump supporter who has partnered with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to determine undocumented immigrants earlier than his contract was stripped final yr.

Outcomes went downhill from there: 33% of Franklin County residents knew their sheriff, and 30% of Hampden County residents knew theirs. Simply 8% of residents within the state’s most populous county, Middlesex, knew the identify of their sheriff, and solely 6% of Suffolk County residents knew their sheriff’s identify, the bottom of the teams.

Moreover, 41% of respondents didn’t know that sheriffs are elected and 90% didn’t know that the size of their phrases is six years. As soon as surveyors shared that sheriffs are liable for issues together with overseeing county jails, deciding what rehabilitation, substance abuse and academic applications are provided in jails and selecting whether or not to cooperate with ICE, the slice of respondents planning to vote for sheriff jumped from 45% to 71%.

“The 14 sheriffs elected in Massachusetts are elected officers who make choices every single day that affect folks and communities, from growing remedy choices for folks affected by substance use dysfunction to rejecting insurance policies that cut up households aside,” mentioned Carol Rose, govt director of ACLU Massachusetts.

Respondents have been additionally requested concerning the attributes most vital to them in a sheriff. A very powerful trait was expertise in regulation enforcement, with 84% citing this as “extraordinarily” or “very” vital. One other 82% mentioned help for drug and alcohol rehabilitation applications for incarcerated folks was “extraordinarily” or “very” vital, whereas 79% ranked help for vocational applications as “extraordinarily” or “very” vital, and 78% mentioned the identical a few dedication to racial justice.