Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Find helpful information for attorneys, legal professionals, vendors, clients, and members of the public.

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Client-Specific FAQs

General Questions

See this page for more information. Follow the specific steps for the Division your case is in.

Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI)

Your CORI report is a list of your criminal charges. It includes all cases – even if you were not found guilty or if the case was dismissed. 

It is important to know the details of your criminal record. A CORI can make it harder to get a job, find housing, or even volunteer at your child’s school. 

Learn more about CORI rights via Mass Legal Help.

  1. Restraining orders to prevent abuse or harassment. If criminal charges are filed against you for violating a restraining order, those charges will be on your CORI report. 
  2. Child abuse or neglect reports, also known as “51A reports,” from the Department of Children and Families. 
  3. Cases tried in juvenile cases. The only exception is if you were a juvenile tried as an adult.

Access your record through the Massachusetts iCORI service portal.

Learn more about juvenile records via Mass Legal Help.

Learn more about sealing your CORI via Mass Legal Help.

Youth Advocacy

The job of your child’s lawyer is to prepare their case, help them to understand the process, give them legal advice, and advocate for whatever outcome your child has decided upon; whether your child wants to go to trial or not. The lawyer is responsible for all the legal work in the case and any investigation that needs to be done.

Your child’s attorney should make sure that your child truly understands the process and the choices that they will need to make. Your child’s attorney should also explain the process to you. It is important to remember that the lawyer works for your child and not for you. Your child’s lawyer should never tell you anything about the case without your child’s permission. If you and your child disagree about how to handle the case, the lawyer must follow your child’s wishes.

Your child will make all of the major decisions in his case. Their attorney makes certain legal decisions, but all major decisions, such as whether or not to go to trial, are made by your child. You are free to advise your child and the lawyer may also advise your child. Ultimately, your child has control over the major decisions in their case. It may seem impractical to you to let a child make such important decisions, but keep in mind that it is the child who will live with the consequences and your child is the one who has the professional relationship with the lawyer.

You do not have to like your child’s attorney. You also do not have to agree with your child’s attorney about what is in your child’s best interest. You do have to feel, however, that your child’s lawyer is zealously advocating for his or her best legal interests. Your child’s attorney is just that – your child’s attorney. They are not your attorney and do not represent you. 

Many attorneys will encourage their child clients to bring their parents into the process because it is usually beneficial for a child to be able to discuss his or her options with a parent and for the parent to help make decisions. This is not always possible. For example, sometimes children are embarrassed or ashamed of what they have done and do not feel comfortable telling their parents what happened. In this situation, it is critical for the child to be able to trust that the attorney will not reveal what the child has told them in order for the child to tell the attorney the truth. Where a child is unable to trust his attorney, that attorney’s ability to zealously

advocate can be seriously compromised.

If you believe that your child’s attorney is not listening to your child or is not explaining things in ways that your child can understand, you should first speak to the attorney to see if the problem can be resolved. If your child’s attorney fails to meet with your child about the case, fails to show up for court appearances, and otherwise neglects your child’s case, you should ask that attorney to withdraw and request that the judge give your child a new lawyer. Judges rarely grant requests for new lawyers so you should be prepared to give the judge specific reasons why you are not satisfied with the attorney.

Your child’s first day in court is for an arraignment and bail hearing. The arraignment is where your child is formally charged, so you and your child will know what the specific charge is. This will be done in front of a judge or in front of an assistant clerk-magistrate if there is no juvenile court judge available. The judge will also decide whether to release the child to you, or to set bail. 

 

Before the arraignment and bail hearing, you should report to the probation department. At the probation office, you will be asked to fill out a financial intake sheet so that the court can determine whether you are eligible for a court-appointed lawyer.

 

If a lawyer is assigned to your child’s case, you should also speak to your child’s lawyer to give them any helpful information about your child. Unfortunately, you may have to sit in court for a few hours before your child’s case is called. You should wait in the hallway outside the juvenile courtroom.

When your child has been charged with a crime or is being accused of violating the terms of their violation, the judge makes the decision on whether to release your child, set bail, or hold your child in custody without bail.

If your child is not released and a bail is set, you can bail your child out from the courthouse or from the Department of Youth Services (DYS). 

Bail must be paid in cash or money order, and will be returned to you once the case is over. If you bail your child out at DYS, it costs an extra $40 for the bail bonds person, which you do not get back. Be sure to call DYS to let them know you are coming to bail out your child. 

At the time you post bail, you are given a receipt. When the case is closed go to the main juvenile clerk’s office of the county in which your child’s case originated and present that receipt and your identification to get your bail money returned.

Information about placements may not be available until late in the afternoon on the day your child is placed in DYS. Call the area intake office closest to where you live and they will be able to tell you where your child is being held. You can then call this program to find out visiting times and rules.

Metro Boston: (617) 740-0211
Central: (508) 368-4270
Southeastern: (508) 828-3838
Western: (413) 568-8636
Northeastern: (978) 646-2300

The alleged victim does not have the authority to drop a case. Only the prosecutor can decide to drop a case. Even where the alleged victim is saying he or she wants the case dropped, the prosecutor can still go forward with the case and choose not to dismiss it.

You should not speak to the alleged victim or the alleged victim’s parent or family. Talking to them could get you or your child in serious legal trouble, especially if the judge has ordered that your child stay away from the alleged victim. A judge cannot order you, as a parent, to stay away from somebody since you are not the defendant. However, most stay-away orders say your child cannot have any direct or indirect contact.

Therefore, a parent contacting an alleged victim or his family may be construed as indirect contact. If you are on friendly terms with the family of the alleged victim, speak to your lawyer about whether to talk to them.

Your role in court will be to provide emotional support for your child. You should speak to your child’s lawyer about your child’s personal history, such as difficult circumstances that they have faced and how well they are doing at home and in school. Since it is your child who has been accused of a crime, your child will be the one to make decisions about the case, such as whether to go to trial or plead to the case.

You should politely and respectfully ask the officer why they need to speak to your child. You can tell the officer that you wish to consult with an attorney before allowing your child to speak to the police. It is important to keep in mind that anything your child says to the police can be used against him/her. It is best to consult an attorney before allowing the police to speak with your child. To consult with an attorney, you can call the Youth Advocacy Department at (617) 988-8339 to be directed to a YAD attorney in your area

When your child is on probation, they have to follow rules that a judge has set. Your child must follow these rules to show the judge that more serious steps do not need to be taken to help your child stay out of trouble with the law. 

Usually, the judge will set conditions like:

  • Follow all state and federal laws
  • Go to school (or to work) on time every day
  • Obey the rules of the home
  • Report to a probation officer or program
  • Pay money if property was stolen or damaged
  • Follow a curfew
  • Get permission to prior to traveling outside Massachusetts


While your child is on probation, they will be assigned a probation officer (“PO”) who will regularly check on how your child is doing at school and at home. The PO will interview both you and your child. Keep in mind that the PO may talk to the judge or others about your child. Therefore, you should be careful about what information you share with the PO since it is not a confidential conversation.

Yes. Probation officers have the right to visit and meet with probationers.

If your child has an open case and is held on bail, or without bail, they will be held at a detention unit that is operated by DYS. While held there, they will have access to medical and educational services. There are also clinicians and caseworkers who may check in with your child. You should call the facility to get information on visiting times and rules.

If your child is committed to DYS, they will have physical custody of your child until his 18th, 19th, or 20th birthday, depending on how old they are when they are committed. You will maintain legal custody of your child.

A meeting called a staffing will be held 30 to 45 days after your child is committed to DYS and a plan for his placement will be discussed. It will be important for you to attend this meeting to advocate for what your child needs. Before this meeting, a representative of DYS will contact you to get information about your child, their development, life growing up, etc. in order to write a case history of your child. DYS wants to have the most comprehensive information about your child so that they can best work with them. The youth will then go to a residential or secure (locked) facility for a period of time and thereafter may be released home to follow DYS rules for the rest of the commitment.

Periodic meetings will be held regarding your child’s progress within DYS. It is important to try to attend these meetings so you can be kept up to date. If your child is eventually returned to your home, they will be required to live under DYS rules. Your child and their DYS community caseworker will sign a contract called a Grant of Conditional Liberty (GCL). If your child violates any of these rules, DYS can take your child back into their physical custody.

There are many potential consequences to a juvenile or criminal prosecution. Some of the major potential consequences include: deportation, school expulsion, eviction from public housing (this could apply to the entire family), loss of driver’s license, difficulty getting a job, registration as a sex offender, and loss of voting rights. These are possible consequences and do not apply to all cases. Anyone who has a case pending should ask their lawyer if these or other consequences might apply to them.

Innocence Program

You can apply for the Innocence Program by filling out one of the below questionnaires. Kindly only send us the questionnaire and no other case-specific material unless and until we ask for more information.

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