State legislators from Boston are proposing to rename the Dorchester District Courthouse after Leslie E. Harris, a former juvenile court judge who died last fall. Their legislation to honor him deserves prompt passage.

Born in Chicago and raised in that city’s public housing, Harris moved here for graduate study at Boston University and stayed. He worked his way up from a high school teacher, probation officer, public defender and assistant prosecutor to juvenile judge in Suffolk County, where he served for two decades. He earned his law degree at Boston College.

Along the way, Harris mentored generations of BC law students and Black lawyers. As a defense attorney, he advocated for clients even after their cases concluded, as he did with a Black man swept up in the mindless dragnet after Charles Stuart, a white man, killed his own wife in Mission Hill. That client, Alan Swanson, belatedly received $50,000 in compensation from the city.

Dorchester hosts one of Boston’s busiest district courts. Legislation to name the courthouse on Washington Street after Harris is sponsored in the House by Christopher Worrell and Russell Homes and in the Senate by Nick Collins and Liz Miranda.

Renaming the courthouse after a legendary judge who had deep ties to Boston’s Black community could make those who enter its doors believe more in the possibility of justice being dispensed there.

Ronald Mitchell
Editor and Publisher, Bay State Banner