Chapter 119

Section 51G. Sections fifty-one A to fifty-one F, inclusive, are severable and the invalidity of any of said sections shall not affect the continuing validity of any other of said sections.

Section 51H. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department may send to, or receive from, any other state or country a protective alert containing any information about a child related to a substantiated report of child abuse or neglect if the departme…

Section 52. The following words as used in the following sections shall, except as otherwise specifically provided, have the following meanings: ''Court'', a division of the juvenile court department. ''Delinquent child'', a child between 12 and 18 years of age who commits any of…

Section 53. Sections fifty-two to sixty-three, inclusive, shall be liberally construed so that the care, custody and discipline of the children brought before the court shall approximate as nearly as possible that which they should receive from their parents, and that, as far as …

Section 54. If complaint is made to any court that a child between 12 and 18 years of age is a delinquent child, said court shall examine, on oath, the complainant and the witnesses, if any, produced by him, and shall reduce the complaint to writing, and cause it to be subscribed…

Section 54A. (a) A juvenile court shall have jurisdiction to divert from further court processing a child who is subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court as the result of an application for complaint brought pursuant to section 54. The court may divert a child to a progr…

Section 54B. (a) If a child is alleged to be a delinquent child by reason of a violation of section 29B, 29C or 29D of chapter 272, the court shall, prior to arraignment, indefinitely stay arraignment and direct the child to enter into and complete the educational diversion progr…

Section 55. If a child has been summoned to appear or is brought before such court upon a warrant, as provided in section fifty-four, a summons shall be issued to at least one of its parents, if either of them is known to reside within the commonwealth, and, if there is no such p…

Section 55A. Trial of a child complained of as a delinquent child or indicted as a youthful offender in a division of the juvenile court department shall be by a jury, unless the child files a written waiver and consent to be tried by the court without a jury. Such waiver shall n…

Section 55B. A child who is before the juvenile court on a delinquency complaint or an indictment within the court's jurisdiction shall plead not delinquent, or that he should not be adjudged as a youthful offender, as the case may be. Such plea shall be submitted by the child an…

Section 56. Hearings upon cases arising under sections fifty-two to eighty-four, inclusive, may be adjourned from time to time; provided however, that no adjournment shall exceed fifteen days at any one time against the objection of the child. Section thirty-five of chapter two h…

Section 57. Every case of a delinquent child shall be investigated by the probation officer, who shall make a report regarding the character of such child, his school record, home surroundings and the previous complaints against him, if any. In every case involving a child attend…

Section 58. At the hearing of a complaint against a child the court shall hear the testimony of any witnesses who appear and take such evidence relative to the case as shall be produced. If the allegations against a child are proved beyond a reasonable doubt, he may be adjudged a…

Section 58B. If, under the provisions of section fifty-eight, a child is adjudged a delinquent child by reason of having violated any statute, by-law, ordinance or regulation relating to the operation of motor vehicles, the court may place the case on file, or may place the child…

Section 59. If a child has been placed in care of a probation officer, said officer, at any time before the final disposition of the case, may arrest such child without a warrant and take him before the court, or the court may issue a warrant for his arrest. When such child is be…

Section 60. An adjudication of any child as a delinquent child under sections fifty-two to fifty-nine, inclusive, or any disposition thereunder of any child so adjudicated, or any evidence given in any case arising against any child under said sections fifty-two to fifty-nine, or…

Section 60A. The records of a youthful offender proceeding conducted pursuant to an indictment shall be open to public inspection in the same manner and to the same extent as adult criminal court records. All other records of the court in cases of delinquency arising under sectio…

Section 62. If, in adjudging a person a delinquent child, the court finds, as an element of such delinquency, that he has committed an act involving liability in a civil action, and such delinquent child is placed on probation, the court may require, as a condition thereof, that …

Section 63. Any person who shall be found to have caused, induced, abetted, or encouraged or contributed toward the delinquency of a child, or to have acted in any way tending to cause or induce such delinquency, may be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or …

Section 63A. Whoever is 19 years of age or older and: (i) knowingly and willfully aids or abets a child under the age of 18, to violate an order of a juvenile court; or (ii) knowingly and willfully conceals or harbors a child who has taken flight from the custody of the court, a …

Section 64. The commissioner of probation may supervise the probation work for delinquent children, and make necessary inquiries in regard to the same, and in his annual report may make such recommendations as he considers advisable for the improvement of methods of dealing with …

Section 65. Courts shall designate suitable times for the hearing of cases of children under 18 years of age, which shall be called the juvenile session, for which a separate docket and record shall be kept. Said session shall be separate from that for the trial of criminal cases…

Section 66. Except as otherwise provided in section sixty-seven and in section twelve of chapter one hundred and twenty, no child under 18 years of age shall be detained by the police in a lockup, police station or house of detention pending arraignment, examination or trial by t…

Section 67. (a) Whenever a child between 12 and 18 years of age is arrested with or without a warrant, as provided by law, and the court or courts having jurisdiction over the offense are not in session, the officer in charge shall immediately notify at least 1 of the child's par…

Section 68. A child who has attained the age of 12 but not yet attained the age of 18 held by the court for further examination, trial or continuance, or for indictment and trial, if unable to furnish bail, shall be committed by the court to the care of the department of youth se…

Section 68A. A child between 12 and 18 years of age, held by the court for further examination, trial or continuance, or for indictment and trial, may at the discretion of the court be referred to the department of youth services, any court clinic, or the department of mental hea…

Section 68B. The department of youth services may use or provide special foster homes and places of temporary custody commonly referred to as detention homes, at various places in the commonwealth which shall be completely separate from any police station, town lockup or jail, an…

Section 68C. The department of youth services shall maintain and provide diagnostic services for the purpose of providing the diagnostic studies and making the reports and recommendations provided for under section sixty-eight A, and the department may provide offices and facilit…

Section 69. The superintendent of the public schools in any town, any teacher therein, and any person in charge of a private school, or any teacher therein, shall furnish to any court from time to time any information and reports requested by any justice thereof relating to the a…

Section 69A. When a person has been committed to the department of youth services, the court, the probation officers, and other public and police authorities, the school authorities, and other public officials shall make available to said department all pertinent information in t…

Section 70. At any time during the pendency of any case before a court or trial justice against a child under 18 years of age, whether pending adjudication or during continuances or probation or after the case has been taken from the files, the court or trial justice may summon a…

Section 71. If any person to whom a summons is issued under the preceding section or section forty-two or fifty-five fails to appear in response to such summons, the court issuing the summons may issue a capias to compel the attendance of such person, and such capias shall be iss…

Section 72. (a) The divisions of the juvenile court department shall continue to have jurisdiction over children who attain their eighteenth birthday pending final adjudication of their cases, including all remands and retrials following appeals from their cases, or during contin…

Section 72A. If a person commits an offense or violation prior to his eighteenth birthday, and is not apprehended until after his nineteenth birthday, the court, after a hearing, shall determine whether there is probable cause to believe that said person committed the offense cha…

Section 72B. If a person is found guilty of murder in the first degree committed on or after his fourteenth birthday and before his eighteenth birthday under the provisions of section one of chapter two hundred and sixty-five, the superior court shall commit the person to such pu…

Section 74. Except as hereinafter provided and as provided in sections fifty-two to eighty-four, inclusive, no criminal proceeding shall be begun against any person who prior to his eighteenth birthday commits an offense against the laws of the commonwealth or who violates any ci…

Section 84. Whenever a person is committed to the department of youth services by a court under section fifty-six, fifty-eight or eighty-three, a warrant of commitment shall be issued in substance as follows: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (County) ss. To the Sheriff of the Co…

Section 85. (a) Any employee of the department or person employed pursuant to a contract with the department, when acting in his professional capacity or within the scope of his or her employment, who has knowledge of or observes an animal whom he knows or reasonably suspects has…

Section 86. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Juvenile'', (1) a person appearing before a division of the juvenile court department who is (i) subject to a delinquency pr…

Section 87. (a) The department of youth services and the department of correction shall not place in a secure detention facility or secure correctional facility any juvenile who has: (1) been charged with or who has committed an offense that would not be criminal if committed by …

Section 88. A child against whom a complaint is brought pursuant to this chapter may participate in a community-based restorative justice program pursuant to chapter 276B.

Section 89. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Alternative lock-up program'', a facility or program that provides for the physical care and custody of a juvenile being held by a cri…