Massachusetts is a combination state. The state operates most delinquency services for youth in Massachusetts. However, responsibility is divided between the state judicial and state executive branches.

How is detention organized?  

The Department of Youth Services (DYS) administers 23 secure or staff secure detention facilities throughout the state. DYS either operates these facilities or contracts with non-profit service providers.

Clerk-magistrates can divert youth charged with misdemeanors to programs or enter into informal settlements with them. Prosecutors can divert complaints by entering a nolle prosequi which may even terminate the court’s jurisdiction over complaints.

Massachusetts Victim Bill of Rights specifically extends rights to the victims of juvenile violence, including a right to a full explanation by the prosecutor of their rights in the process, the right to attend all court hearings, the right to confer with probation officers prior to the submission of pre-disposition investigation, and to submit oral and written impact statements at disposition.

Probation officers working for the Juvenile Court Department of the Trial Court supervise and monitor juvenile offenders assigned to traditional juvenile probation. Juvenile court judges set the terms and length of traditional probation. However, all probation services are subject to the central administrative authority of the Office of the Commissioner of Probation.

Juvenile probation officers must have a bachelor's degree and a minimum of one year of related work experience or a relevant master's degree. The Office of the Commissioner does not certify individual officers. Instead, entire offices are certified through a review panel. 

Juvenile offenders are committed to the Department of Youth Services (DYS).  Youth indicted and subsequently adjudicated as youthful offenders can be committed until the “objective of the commitment is accomplished” or until age 21. The court cannot place youth in private or local residential facilities without commitment to the Department of Youth Services.

Massachusetts does not have a juvenile parole or release board. The Department of Youth Services (DYS) may direct the release of a youth from residential facilities to his or her home and family but retain jurisdiction to supervise the youth in this placement until the commitment expires.

The Department of Youth Services (DYS) works with juvenile offenders after their release from placement to reintegrate them into their communities. Following placement in facilities, juvenile offenders are placed in residential group homes or foster homes, or they return home with their families and are provided supportive services by DYS.

Massachusetts’ Purpose Clause emphasizes the promotion of the welfare and best interests of the juvenile as the sole or primary purpose of the juvenile court system. It also reflects the Standard Juvenile Court Act.

Lower Age: 7 

Upper Age: 16 

Extended Age of Delinquency Jurisdiction: 20

Initial detention decisions are currently not guided by a uniform risk-scaling tool as they are in some states, rather the statute guidelines are applied and the juvenile court determines whether secure detention is warranted at a detention hearing.  Probation officers develop supervision plans after completing a detailed offender profile that includes a risk/need classification.