Associate Justice Bessie Dewar of Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

7/02/2024

Associate Justice Bessie Dewar

c/o Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

John Adams Courthouse,

1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500

Boston, MA  02108

Dear Associate Justice Dewar,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I have a strong interest in learning history, social justice, and criminal justice reform. In these subjects, I like to learn the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, have criminal justice reform to help protect people’s rights while reduce crime, expand on social justice to improve communities, and many others. Associate Justice Dewar, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work as Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to be very inspiring to me.

In your current role as Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, I truly appreciate on how you were a strong supporter of civil rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, pushing for strict sentencing for people who commit hate crimes to help protect minorities including people who are different, and expressing the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination.On people with disabilities’ rights issues, I like on how you express the need for more people who have expertise in people with disabilities’ rights including people with disabilities’ rights law to be in the judicial system or be elected in the courts, emphasize the need for social workers to work with law enforcement to help reduce situation with people who struggle with mental health, and more better reforms on people who have mental health or with a disability to get better access to social security disability benefits.  Supporting the need for drug treatment programs to help drug-users get the care they need to reduce drug abuse, advocating for the need for more resources to help victims of domestic violence or victims of crime get help on dealing with their trauma, and strongly express the importance for more funds for DNA testing including forensic science to help solve evidence efficiently while reduce sending an innocent person to jail is common sense for criminal justice reform. Also on criminal justice reform, I like on how you express the need for mental health court to help people with mental illness to get treatment and advocate for the importance of community services to help non-violent offenders including non violent juveniles to rehabilitate so they won’t re-offend. Another thing that I like about your work in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is how you are an advocate of the need for improvements on ethics reform to reduce misconduct or corruption in the judicial system, support the idea of reducing racial profiling including racial injustice, and support protecting civil liberties like the fourth amendment to help protect people from unreasonable searches.   

Associate Justice Dewar, I have autism with a learning disability.  Having a disability is hard for me because i have trouble comprehending on learning different advanced subjects, sometimes i struggle to communicate my thoughts in different settings (social and environmental settings), and get teased. Your commitment to be a strong supporter of civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability. Your role as current Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court   helps give me motivation to continue to learn history, social justice, and criminal justice reform. My future goal is to someday work in these areas to emphasize the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, have criminal justice reform to help protect people’s rights while reduce crime, and many others.

I strongly believe that you are making a great difference for society. I’m very proud on how you work hard to support civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights, advocate along with support criminal justice reform, and many others.  You truly inspire me to work hard on my disability, learn more about your work, and learn different subjects. I was wondering if you could please share with me on what it is like serving on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. Please continue to advocate and push for common sense ideas.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick