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

On this site, you will find the full text of the 44th 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 law library for access instructions. In the case of ADAs, access to the Guide is through your account on the New York Prosecutors Training Institute website.

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:

12/3/24:   "Larceny" and "Receiving Stolen Property" have been updated to note new cases discussing jury unanimity, shoplifting, property subject to theft, and other topics, including a challenging new case on the Money Laundering Statute from the Appeals Court, Commonwealth v. Lee.

11/24/24:   Three chapters have just been updated. "Assault" focuses on new cases defining the contours of the witness intimidation statute. "Domestic Abuse" notes new cases as well as changes in the Chapter 209A and Chapter 258E firearms surrender provisions as inserted by the 2024 Act Modernizing Firearms Laws. Finally, "Forgery" updates the two latest cases fleshing out the knowledge element of the crime of uttering, including the debatable outcome in Commonwealth v. Oliver.

Please see What's New for further details.

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Massachusetts Prosecutor's Guide Online
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