AN ACT RELATIVE TO ACCESS TO PAROLE BOARD HEARINGS FOR FAMILY MEMBERS OF DECEASED VICTIMS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same,
The second paragraph of section 133A of chapter 127 of
the General Laws, as appearing in the 1996 Official Edition, is hereby amended
by striking out the last sentence.
Said chapter 127 is hereby further amended by inserting
after section 133B the following section:-
Section 133C. The family members of a deceased victim may represent the
victim at any parole hearing for a prisoner serving a sentence for a crime
which resulted in the death of such victim or for a crime for which a prisoner
is serving a sentence for life in a correctional institution of the
commonwealth, except prisoners serving a life sentence for murder in the first
degree and prisoners confined to the hospital at the Massachusetts Correctional
Institution, Bridgewater. For the purposes of this section, family members
shall include: parent, stepparent or guardian of the victim, spouse or person
with whom the victim lived and in a relationship similar to marriage, child,
stepchild, grandchild, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew and
guardian of the minor child or stepchild of the victim.