What to Do When Your Child Is Arrested or Charged in Massachusetts: Juvenile Delinquency and Youthful Offender Defense

A police officer calls a parent at work to say that the parent’s fifteen-year-old is at the station. A summons arrives from the Juvenile Court naming a sixteen-year-old and a date for a hearing. A school resource officer files a delinquency complaint after a fight in a hallway, a stolen phone, a threat posted online, or a vape pen found in a backpack. Each of these events begins a Massachusetts juvenile case, and each one puts a child between twelve and seventeen in front of the Juvenile Court.

A delinquency case is the juvenile version of a criminal case. The Commonwealth must prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, the child has the right to a lawyer and to a jury, and the judge can place the child on probation or commit the child to the Department of Youth Services. For the most serious charges, the Commonwealth can indict a child of fourteen or older as a youthful offender and ask for an adult sentence.

This page explains who the Juvenile Court hears cases against, what happens when police arrest or question a child, how a case can end before arraignment through diversion, what the judge can order, what a delinquency complaint means at school, and who can see a juvenile record afterward.

Attorney Joe Serpa has practiced Massachusetts criminal defense since 1995. He represents children and their families in the Juvenile Court divisions of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Middlesex Counties and across eastern Massachusetts, from the first call from the police through the hearing, the trial, and the sealing of the record. The firm’s Massachusetts criminal process guide explains the stages that a juvenile case shares with an adult case.

Which Cases the Massachusetts Juvenile Court Hears

The Juvenile Court hears a delinquency complaint against a child who was at least twelve and younger than eighteen when the alleged offense occurred. G.L. c. 119, § 52. The Commonwealth cannot prosecute a child under twelve for a crime at all.

The Juvenile Court does not hear a civil infraction, a violation of a town bylaw or city ordinance, or a child’s first offense of a minor misdemeanor, which the statute defines as a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, by up to six months in a house of correction, or by both. A first offense of that kind, such as a first charge of disorderly conduct or a first shoplifting charge for goods worth less than $250, is dismissed outright.

The Juvenile Court handles delinquency cases differently from the adult district court in several ways that a parent notices at once. The courtroom is closed to the public during a delinquency session. The child is called a juvenile or a child, not a defendant, and the result of a trial is an adjudication of delinquency, not a conviction.

The court’s dispositions are built around probation, treatment, and the Department of Youth Services, which is the state agency that supervises and houses committed juveniles, rather than around jail. A child who turns eighteen while the case is pending stays in the Juvenile Court under G.L. c. 119, § 72, which governs how long the court keeps jurisdiction over a pending case.

The First-Offense Rule for Minor Misdemeanors

A child’s first minor misdemeanor is outside the Juvenile Court’s jurisdiction, so the judge must dismiss the charge. Whether the charge is in fact a first offense is the question that counsel examines first. The Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the child has a prior offense before the court can go forward on a minor misdemeanor. Wallace W. v. Commonwealth, 482 Mass. 789, 798, 800 (2019). Juvenile Court Rules 3 and 6 set the procedure for that hearing, and counsel represents the child at the hearing before any arraignment.

A prior continuance without a finding counts as a prior offense. In Commonwealth v. Fayad F., 495 Mass. 266 (2025), the Supreme Judicial Court held that a continuance without a finding entered after a child admitted to sufficient facts establishes that an offense occurred, so a later minor misdemeanor was not a first offense.

The Supreme Judicial Court also stated that a judge may not continue a first minor misdemeanor without a finding, because the Juvenile Court has no jurisdiction over it. The judge must dismiss the charge. A prior arrest or a prior dismissed complaint, by contrast, does not establish a prior offense. Counsel obtains the child’s actual prior dispositions before advising the family, because whether the new charge can proceed at all depends on those dispositions.

Youthful Offender Indictments and Adult Sentences

The Commonwealth can prosecute a child as a youthful offender only when three things are true. The child was at least fourteen and younger than eighteen when the alleged offense occurred. The offense is one that would be punishable by state prison if an adult committed it. And the child was previously committed to the Department of Youth Services, or the offense involved the infliction or threat of serious bodily harm, or the charge is a firearms offense under G.L. c. 269, § 10(a), (c), or (d), or § 10E. G.L. c. 119, § 52. A felony charge by itself does not make a child a youthful offender.

A delinquency case begins with a complaint. A youthful offender case begins with an indictment from a grand jury. G.L. c. 119, § 54. The district attorney decides whether to seek the indictment, and counsel examines both the underlying offense and the evidence of the additional condition the Commonwealth relies on. A youthful offender proceeding is open to the public, and a child adjudicated a youthful offender faces an adult sentence, a commitment to the Department of Youth Services until age twenty-one, or a combination of the two, as the section below on what the judge can order explains.

Murder is the one exception to the Juvenile Court’s jurisdiction over a child of fourteen or older. G.L. c. 119, § 74 excludes a charge of first or second degree murder against a child of fourteen or older from the Juvenile Court, and the Superior Court tries that charge.

A Child Arrested or Questioned by the Police

When the police arrest a child, G.L. c. 119, § 67 requires the officer to notify a parent or guardian and the probation officer. The police may release the child to the parent or hold the child for a court appearance. Notice to a parent is not legal advice, and a parent who receives that call should call a lawyer before anyone in the family speaks with the police about the facts.

Massachusetts gives a child a protection during police questioning beyond what an adult has. A child under fourteen cannot waive the right to remain silent unless a parent or another interested adult was present, understood the Miranda warnings, and had the opportunity to explain those rights to the child.

A child of fourteen or older must have a genuine opportunity to consult with a parent, an interested adult, or a lawyer before waiving those rights, and a waiver without that opportunity is valid only where the Commonwealth shows that the child had a high degree of intelligence, experience, knowledge, or sophistication. Commonwealth v. Alfonso A., 438 Mass. 372 (2003).

In Alfonso A., the Supreme Judicial Court held that an officer’s offer to go get the juvenile’s mother, made after the warnings and as the questioning was about to begin, was not a genuine opportunity to consult. A statement taken in violation of that rule is suppressed, and counsel moves to suppress it.

The interested adult rule puts a parent in the room. The child still needs a lawyer, because a parent who sits in on an interview often encourages the child to talk, and the Commonwealth then uses the child’s statement as evidence. The firm’s pages on the right to remain silent and on criminal investigations before charges explain the difference between a voluntary interview and a custodial interrogation.

The family should preserve the summons, the police paperwork, the original text messages, photographs, and videos, and the names of every student or adult who saw what happened. Counsel can send a preservation letter for school surveillance video before the school overwrites it, and the firm’s page on digital evidence explains how messages and recordings are authenticated.

Clerk-Magistrate Hearings, Arraignment, and Detention in the Juvenile Court

Where the police apply for a delinquency complaint without arresting the child, the clerk-magistrate of the Juvenile Court may hold a hearing before issuing the complaint, and counsel can oppose the complaint there. If the clerk-magistrate denies the application, no complaint issues and no arraignment occurs. The firm’s clerk-magistrate hearing page explains how that hearing works.

At arraignment, the judge decides whether the child goes home. The judge may release the child to a parent, release the child on conditions such as a curfew, school attendance, or no contact with the complainant, set bail, or order the child held in a Department of Youth Services detention facility. For a youthful offender charge or another qualifying charge, the Commonwealth may move for a dangerousness hearing under G.L. c. 276, § 58A. Counsel prepares for the release argument before the first court date, with the school schedule, the family’s supervision plan, and any treatment already in place.

Juvenile Diversion Before Arraignment

A judge in the Juvenile Court can divert an eligible child before arraignment, so that the child is never arraigned and no entry is made in the criminal offender record information system. G.L. c. 119, § 54A. The child asks for an assessment before arraignment, the probation department or a program evaluates the child, and the judge hears from the Commonwealth and from counsel before deciding whether the child is eligible.

The judge then stays the case for ninety days while the child completes the program, and may extend the stay for up to ninety more days. The child must consent in writing, on the advice of counsel, and must waive the right to a speedy trial for the period of the stay.

If the child completes the program, the judge may dismiss the complaint, and on a dismissal under § 54A(f) the judge must order the clerk, the court, the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, and the court activity record index to expunge the records of the complaint unless the child objects.

The statute excludes a child indicted as a youthful offender and a child charged with specified serious offenses, including an offense punishable by more than five years, an offense with a mandatory minimum sentence, and an offense that cannot be continued without a finding. The district attorney has separate authority under § 54A(d) to divert a child before or after the assessment, without the court’s permission and without those exclusions.

The firm’s page on continuances without a finding, pretrial probation, and diversion explains how those dispositions differ. Counsel raises diversion before arraignment, because a judge may divert a child under § 54A only before the arraignment.

Discovery, Trial, and What the Judge Can Order

The Commonwealth must prove a delinquency charge or a youthful offender charge beyond a reasonable doubt, and the child has the right to a jury trial under G.L. c. 119, § 55A. Counsel obtains the police reports, the witness statements, the school’s incident reports, any recordings, and any statement attributed to the child, and files motions to suppress an unlawful search or an unlawfully obtained statement. A charge is an accusation, and many delinquency cases end in a dismissal, a not delinquent finding, or a diversion rather than an adjudication.

If the Commonwealth proves a delinquency charge, the judge may adjudicate the child delinquent and place the child on probation, commit the child to the Department of Youth Services, or place the case on file. The judge may instead continue the case without a finding and place the child on probation, with the consent of the child and at least one parent or guardian.

Probation or a commitment ends when the child turns eighteen, or nineteen if the judge disposed of the case after the child’s eighteenth birthday, or twenty if after the nineteenth. G.L. c. 119, § 58.

A judge may not continue a delinquency complaint without a finding, and may not place it on file, where the charge is indecent assault and battery on a child under fourteen, rape of a child, or another sex offense that § 58 lists. The firm’s page on indecent assault and battery explains those charges and the sex offender registration that can follow an adjudication.

If the Commonwealth proves a youthful offender charge, the judge may impose the adult sentence that the law provides for the offense, a commitment to the Department of Youth Services until age twenty-one, or a combination sentence, which is a commitment to the Department of Youth Services until twenty-one followed by a suspended adult sentence that the child serves only if the child violates probation.

Before sentencing a youthful offender, the judge must hold a sentencing recommendation hearing and must consider the nature of the offense, the child’s history and records, the success or failure of past treatment, the services available through the juvenile system, the child’s age and maturity, and the likelihood that the child will avoid future crime. The judge must also receive a presentence report at least seven days before sentencing and must make written findings on which sentence best protects present and long-term public safety. G.L. c. 119, § 58.

The Child Is the Client: Parents, Fees, and Confidentiality

The child is the lawyer’s client, even when a parent pays the fee. Massachusetts Rule of Professional Conduct 1.8(f) allows a parent to pay for a child’s defense only where the parent does not direct the lawyer’s judgment and the lawyer keeps the child’s confidences.

A parent can help by providing background, arranging appointments, gathering records, and making sure the child keeps every court date and every condition of release.

What the child tells the lawyer in private stays between the child and the lawyer. G.L. c. 119, § 60A allows a parent to inspect the ordinary records of the child’s case, but it expressly withholds privileged communications between the child and counsel. Counsel explains to the family at the start how the child participates in decisions about the case and what the lawyer can share with the parents.

School Suspension After a Delinquency Complaint

A public school principal may suspend a student after the issuance of a felony delinquency complaint, but only if the principal determines that the student’s continued presence in school would have a substantial detrimental effect on the general welfare of the school. G.L. c. 71, § 37H½. The student must receive written notice of the charges and the reasons before the suspension takes effect, and the student may appeal to the superintendent by a written request within five calendar days of the effective date of the suspension.

The superintendent must hold a hearing within three calendar days, at which the student may present testimony and may have a lawyer, and must decide within five calendar days. After a felony adjudication or an admission in court, the principal may expel the student on the same finding.

A finding that a child is eligible for judicial diversion is not the issuance of a complaint for purposes of § 37H½. G.L. c. 119, § 54A(c)(4). For that reason, a diversion before arraignment protects the child’s standing at school as well as the child’s record.

A school may also discipline the child under its own code of conduct for the conduct itself, regardless of what happens in court, and a statement the child gives to a principal or a dean can be obtained by the police. Counsel reviews the school’s notice, the deadline, and the requested statement before the child or the family responds.

The firm’s page on AI deepfakes and explicit images in Massachusetts schools addresses the school and criminal consequences of image-based allegations, and the college and university student defense page covers a student who has turned eighteen and faces a campus disciplinary proceeding.

Juvenile Records, Sealing, and Who Can See Them

The public cannot attend a delinquency session, and the public cannot inspect delinquency records without a judge’s permission, subject to the exceptions in G.L. c. 119, §§ 60A and 65. Youthful offender proceedings and their records are public. The Commissioner of Probation keeps the record of every delinquency court appearance after the child turns eighteen, until the record is sealed, and courts, police, and probation officers can see that record.

A person with a delinquency record may ask the Commissioner of Probation to seal it under G.L. c. 276, § 100B once three years have passed since the end of the case, including any probation or commitment, provided the person has not been adjudicated delinquent or convicted of a crime in those three years, apart from a minor motor vehicle offense. The Commissioner must seal the record when those conditions are met.

The Supreme Judicial Court held in In the Matter of an Impounded Case (No. 2), 493 Mass. 470 (2024), that § 100B, the juvenile sealing statute, also governs the sealing of youthful offender records in cases other than murder.

After sealing, the Commissioner reports the record to police and courts only as a sealed delinquency record over three years old and to other persons authorized to ask as no record, and the person may answer that he or she has no record on an employment or school application. A judge or probation officer may still see the sealed record when sentencing the person for a later offense.

A person required to register as a sex offender after a delinquency or youthful offender adjudication cannot seal that record under § 100B while the duty to register continues. G.L. c. 6, § 178G. The firm’s sealing and expungement page explains the difference between sealing, which restricts who can see a record, and expungement, which destroys it.

Speaking With a Juvenile Defense Lawyer in Boston

At a first consultation, Attorney Serpa reviews the child’s age at the time of the alleged offense, the exact charge, whether the case began by complaint or by indictment, the next court date, the conditions of release, the child’s prior dispositions, and any school deadline. Serpa Law Office represents children and families in the Juvenile Court in Boston, Quincy, Dedham, Cambridge, and across eastern Massachusetts. Request a free, confidential consultation before the child or the family speaks with the police or the school.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Serpa Law Office Resources

• Massachusetts Criminal Process: From Clerk-Magistrate Hearing to Trial and Appeal
• What to Do When Under Criminal Investigation in Massachusetts Before Charges Are Filed
• Your Right to Remain Silent in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Clerk-Magistrate Hearing Lawyer
• Continuances Without a Finding, Pretrial Probation, and Diversion
• Massachusetts Dangerousness Hearings Under M.G.L. c. 276, § 58A
• AI Deepfake and Explicit Image Charges Against Massachusetts Students
• College and University Student Criminal Defense Lawyer: Boston and Cambridge
• Charged With Indecent Assault and Battery in Massachusetts
• Digital Evidence in Massachusetts Criminal Cases
• Sealing and Expunging a Massachusetts Criminal Record