MPG: Gateway

Welcome to MASSACHUSETTS CRIMINAL LAW: A PROSECUTOR'S GUIDE Online.

On this site, you will find the full text of the 42nd edition of the Prosecutor's Guide. The Guide presents a timely and comprehensive analysis of Massachusetts criminal law and its practice in the courts of the Commonwealth. It is fully updated each fall and during the year as new developments in the law warrant. Please consult our What's New page for the most recent changes. In addition, this online text is linked to a database of Massachusetts court decisions maintained by the Trial Court Law Libraries at masscases.com.

The text also cites and discusses significant criminal law cases decided by the Supreme Court, the federal Courts of Appeals, and state appellate courts from around the country. The principal focus, however, is on Massachusetts criminal law and its practice in the courts of the Commonwealth.

Access to the Guide is by annual subscription. If you are not yet a subscriber, please take the tour of a sample chapter from the Guide.

Please Note: If you are an employee of the Massachusetts Trial Court or an Assistant District Attorney, you have unlimited access to the Prosecutor's Guide web site thanks to licenses purchased on your behalf by the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Library and the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, respectively. Please contact your office IT Department for access instructions.

Also law students at the following institutions have access through your school Law Library: Harvard, Suffolk, Boston College, Northeastern, Western New England School of Law, New England Law | Boston, Boston University, and the University of Massachusetts.

Please note:
11/4/22: This is the 42nd Edition of the Massachusetts Prosecutor's Guide. Judge Stearns has revised the chapters on procedure and evidence to incorporate recent developments in the law on a number of topics including bail and detention, exculpatory evidence, polygraph testing, prior bad acts, professional conduct, joint venture, and juvenile justice, among other subjects. 10/11/22: Judge Stearns has revised the chapter on "Indecent Assault and Battery" to incorporate, among other cases, a number of recent decisions from the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court addressing the proper use of peremptory challenges in the effort to ensure the selection of fair and representative juries. "Motor Vehicle Offenses" has been revised taking particular note of Commonwealth v. Moreau's extension of Bohigian's holding that nonconsensual blood tests are inadmissible on statutory grounds in all OUI prosecutions with or without a court order. Please see What's New for further details.

Please note:

11/4/22: This is the 42nd Edition of the Massachusetts Prosecutor's Guide.

Judge Stearns has revised the chapters on procedure and evidence to incorporate recent developments in the law on a number of topics including bail and detention, exculpatory evidence, polygraph testing, prior bad acts, professional conduct, joint venture, and juvenile justice, among other subjects.

10/11/22: Judge Stearns has revised the chapter on "Indecent Assault and Battery" to incorporate, among other cases, a number of recent decisions from the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court addressing the proper use of peremptory challenges in the effort to ensure the selection of fair and representative juries. "Motor Vehicle Offenses" has been revised taking particular note of Commonwealth v. Moreau's extension of Bohigian's holding that nonconsensual blood tests are inadmissible on statutory grounds in all OUI prosecutions with or without a court order.

Please see What's New for further details.