Clementina Chéry, president and CEO of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, asked Northeastern University law professor Andrew Haile and his first-year law class last fall if they could look into police responses to survivors’ requests for information on unsolved cases involving their loved ones.
After six months of research and interviewing survivors, law enforcement officials, and legal experts, Haile and his students ascertained that the Boston Police Department’s treatment of unsolved homicide cases and victims’ loved ones could be improved by clarifying protocols, establishing partnerships, and re-establishing communication with survivors. They recently presented their findings to a crowded room in Northeastern’s Dockser Hall, with some survivors in attendance.
“Our goal today is to amplify the voices of survivors of unsolved homicides and to start a conversation about survivors’ rights in the Boston area in a positive update,” said law student Camila Clavijo.
The presentation covered the history and the current state of affairs with the Boston Police Department’s Unsolved Case Squad, which was established in 1991 in response to an alarming increase in homicides in the city. The students found that the squad today faces a backlog of more than 1,700 unsolved homicide cases and that community trust in Boston’s police force, particularly for Black Bostonians, has historically been low.
“Excessive surveillance and searches in historically Black communities have shaped the nature of BPD’s presence in these neighborhoods, which may undermine the work of the Unsolved Case Squad,” Clavijo said, citing a Harvard study that found that Black Bostonians reported a “deep distrust” in law enforcement.
The students found that 70 percent of Boston’s homicides over the last 10 years had occurred in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury and that those neighborhoods also reported the highest concentration of cases with no arrests.
The class report suggested that partnerships with universities could streamline the Unsolved Case Squad’s administrative responsibilities to allow detectives to focus on investigations. They also recommended creating clearer department protocols for transferring cases.
Throughout the report and the follow-up presentation, six survivors whose loved ones’ cases have been unsolved for more than a decade provided their testimonies. In these interviews, survivors recounted that police communication regarding their unsolved cases has been consistently inadequate.
Law student Nathan Beagal said the Case Squad contacts families only for major updates in cases to avoid “reopening emotional wounds, jeopardizing trial outcomes, and triggering false reports if case information spreads publicly.”
The class’s recommendations on communication included establishing a firm schedule of communication with survivors, creating a “frequently asked questions” page, and publishing an unsolved homicides database and annual homicide clearance report.
Haile’s classes and the Peace Institute have collaborated on previous projects. The first proposal Chéry made to Haile was an investigation of the murder of her son, Louis Brown, for whom the institute is named. Louis was 15 years old when he was killed in 1993 in a crossfire between two groups while he was on his way to a Christmas party. Chéry founded the Peace Institute a year later, and its first programs focused on educating young people about how to process grief and trauma through non-violent means.
Northeastern University law students and guests are shown during a March discussion at the university’s Dockser Hall about unsolved homicide cases in Boston’s neighborhoods. Rosa Cabán photo
A man named Charles Bogues pleaded guilty to Brown’s murder in 1997, but 15 years later, he filed motions to rescind his guilty plea, claiming that that he did not kill Brown, that he was induced into confessing by prosecutors. Chéry, who had reconciled with Bogues while he was in prison, found that she had questions that no one would answer after Bogues’s statements.
“What I struggled with is what happened to the other groups that were shooting that day,” Chéry said, “and only one person got convicted? And so for me, it just didn’t seem that it was justice.”
While Chéry was searching for someone to re-evaluate the events surrounding her son’s killing, Haile, who lives in Dorchester near the Peace Institute, was looking for a community partner for his law class.
“She has been a longstanding voice for justice and peace and activism around criminal justice,” Haile said. “So, we partnered with her.”
Haile said Northeastern’s law program emphasizes “community lawyering” — meaning prioritizing listening to a community client’s concerns and looking for the legal tools that will best suit their case.
Following their report on Louis Brown’s killing in 2023, which also included recommendations to improve the criminal justice system, Chéry provided Haile’s next class with a new project: looking into survivors’ difficulty accessing public funding to pay for funeral and medical expenses. The presentation on unsolved cases is the third collaboration between the Peace Institute and Haile’s class.
The next issue Chéry wants the class to address is the lack of information that families of homicide victims encounter regarding wrongful convictions in their loved ones’ cases and plea bargains, which often result in shorter prison sentences for suspects who are guilty.
In January, legislators on Beacon Hill filed bills related to unsolved homicides and survivors. A bill presented by state Sen. Liz Miranda proposes a new state office to handle unsolved homicides, a task force to handle these cases, and the establishment of a state-wide database, the last a suggestion of the law students.“There’s no one checking in with us to make sure our rights are being adhered to and respected,” Chéry said. “What we will be doing across the state is working to make sure that our voices are heard.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.