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, as follows:
SECTION 1. 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.
SECTION 2. 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.