Rollins launches scholarship program in memory of a murdered prosecutor

Paul R. McLaughlin: Slain while on duty

High school juniors in Suffolk County are invited to apply for a new paid internship program in the office of District Attorney Rachael Rollins that also serves as a memorial to the slain prosecutor Paul R. McLaughlin. A scholarship in his name has been set up to fund the program, which will pair each student with a mentor within Rollins’s office for two months.

McLaughlin, an assistant DA who lived in West Roxbury, was assassinated as he left a train station near his home in 1995. His killer was a leader of a Dorchester street gang that McLaughlin had been assigned to prosecute.

“I never had the privilege of working with Paul, but more than 25 years after his murder, his passion for justice and second chances still stand as an inspiration to all of us,” Rollins said. “Paul’s legacy lives on in the work that we are doing here at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, at the Dorchester youth center that bears his name, and now with the McLaughlin Scholarship.” 

McLaughlin Scholars who go on to higher education will also receive financial assistance from the DA’s office, Rollins said. An online information session will take place on Jan. 6.  For more information or to apply for the scholarship, please visit suffolkdistrictattorney.com/scholarship. The deadline to apply is Feb. 5, 2021.


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