On September 18, 2013, Governor Deval Patrick signed An Act Expanding Juvenile Jurisdiction into law. Before this law was signed, all seventeen year olds accused of a crime in Massachusetts were automatically treated as adults, regardless of the circumstances or the severity of the offense. This new legislation raises the…
On June 20, 2009, a seventeen year old man shot and killed his friend in Callahan State Park, located in Framingham. According to the police, the defendant had accused the alleged victim of stealing his marijuana at a party the day before the murder. After the defendant made the accusation, the…
According to a recent article by Norman Miller at the MetroWest Daily News, a 32 year old Framingham woman is facing charges after allegedly taking three teenagers, including two of her children, shoplifting with her at the Natick Mall on Friday, July 26th. The defendant also reportedly had a 3-year…
A recent article released by Citizens for Juvenile Justice details a new report about arrests in Massachusetts Schools. The report, “Arrested Futures: The Criminalization of School Discipline in Massachusetts’s Three Largest School Districts,” reviews arrest data from the 2007-08, 2008-09, and2009-10 school years, from Boston, Springfield, and Worcester schools. In…
Massachusetts Juvenile Courts were originally established with a mission entirely different from that of the adult District Courts. Juvenile Court is given a mandate to treat juveniles accused of crimes as children in need of age, guidance, and encouragement rather than criminals. To that end, when a child is put…