Crimes Explained: Massachusetts

Massachusetts criminal law in its official text, annotated. Each section is color-coded to show the prohibited act, the mental state the law requires, and the penalty, and references to other sections link to them. More chapters of the criminal code will follow.

• Select any section to open its own page with the official text beside a breakdown of each crime in it: the act, who can commit it when the law limits that, the mental state required, conditions, exceptions and defenses, the penalty with any conditions that change it, and other consequences. Breakdowns use only the text of that section.
• In the official text, the prohibited act is highlighted in orange, the mental state the law requires (knowledge, intent, recklessness or negligence, such as wilfully or with intent to) in teal, conditions by their if or unless in purple italics, and penalties in red.
• Dotted-underlined words are legal terms. Tap or hover to see what they mean.
• The colored bar on each card shows the maximum prison time stated in that section. Many sentences are lower, and some crimes are punished under other sections.
• State prison or house of correction: a crime that can be punished in the state prison is a felony; one punishable only in a house of correction (county jail, usually up to 2½ years) is a misdemeanor.