Greetings!
With the start of the 2023-2024 legislative session, a tremendous group of legislative champions filed bills that would advance significant progress towards greater youth justice. These reforms would:
  • prevent youth from involvement in the legal system;
  • reduce the harms of legal system involvement; and
  • improve transparency, accountability and equity throughout the system.

With thousands of bills competing for attention, co-sponsorship is an important gauge of support within the legislature. Can you help spread the word and ask your legislators to stand up for youth?

Please take a moment to call your State legislators and ask them to co-sponsor the bills from the list below that you are excited about and believe will create needed change for our youth. .
Youth Justice Priority Bills
Find your Representative and Senator and their contact information here.
Sample Email/Phone Script

To:  firstname.lastname@mahouse.gov (for representatives)
       firstname.lastname@masenate.gov (for senators)

Subject: Please co-sponsor these Youth Justice bills

Dear Representative (or Senator) _____________,

As your constituent, I believe that our Commonwealth must ensure that young people are on the right path to grow into healthy adults. I am reaching out with a request to the Representative (or Senator) to co-sponsor these bills that will improve public safety and hold young people accountable in ways that would improve their outcomes:

[insert a list of the bills you care about from the list below - copy the bill description, docket number and fact sheet link]

Thank you for considering these bills and please let me know if i can discuss why I support these bills with you or your staff.

Sincerely,

Your full name
your residential address
(include city, state, zip to verify that you are a constituent)
Youth Justice Priority Bills
(choose at least 3 to send to your legislator)
Require transparency and accountability by reporting race/ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identify at each major decision point of the juvenile justice system (Rep. Vargas HD.1707/Sen. Creem SD.815) – FACT SHEET
Raise the Age logo
Raise the age at which older youth -- 18- to 20-year-olds -- are automatically prosecuted as adults (H.1826/S.920). (Reps. O’Day & Cruz HD.3510/Sen. Crighton SD.428) – FACT SHEET
Expand judicial diversion from formal juvenile court involvement by allowing for a neutral party to decide if a youth and public safety are better served through alternatives to the juvenile justice system (Rep. Fluker Oakley HD.3409/ Sen. Creem SD.1907) – FACT SHEET
Ensure that youth incarcerated in adult correctional facilities are regularly engaged in education, including high school, special education, higher education, or vocational educational programs by enacting systemic reforms, modeled after the Department of Youth Services' educational services, for all youth under age 22. (Rep. Keefe HD.2781/Sen. Miranda SD.1041) – FACT SHEET
Minimize the risk of false confessions by protect children and youth during police interrogations by requiring the presence of an attorney (Rep. Livingstone HD.2643/Sen. Creem SD.277) – FACT SHEET - and ensure the integrity of these interrogations by prohibiting deception by law enforcement when interrogating youth (Rep. Sabadosa HD.2820/Sen. DiDomenico SD.1644) – FACT SHEET
Expand eligibility for expungement to address the collateral consequences of the over-policing and criminalization of communities of color (Rep. Decker HD.2746/ Sen. Creem SD.1231) – FACT SHEET
Create a sensible and very limited exception to criminal prosecution for youth who engage in consensual sexual activity with other youth who are similarly aged. These relationships must be handled by parents and health professionals and not prosecutors and judges . Massachusetts is one of only four states without such exception. (Rep. Lewis HD.2266/Sen. Rausch SD.1017) – FACT SHEET
End the use of a person’s juvenile cases to count towards "three strikes" to impose enhanced mandatory minimum sentences in the adult legal system. (Rep. Frank Moran HD.2444/ Sen. Eldridge SD.137) – FACT SHEET
Preserve the right to education of students who are accused of a felony offense by requiring there to be a basic determination that the case will move forward in court and that the felony be a “serious violent felony” before a student is suspended or expelled from school. (Reps. Ultrino & Meschino HD. 3558/Sen. Jehlen SD.1203) – FACT SHEET
Automatically seal criminal and juvenile cases after applicable waiting periods without the filing of a petition. In 2020 the legislature authorized $2.5 million to enable Probation to upgrade and automate it's data processing systems. A criminal record should not mean a lifetime of blocked opportunities. (Rep. Keefe HD.2693/Sen. Friedman SD.1168) – FACT SHEET
Support school districts that want to develop more holistic safety practices that do not rely on school-based policing and clarify the parameters for appropriate use of police powers in schools. (Rep. Khan HD.2273/ Sen. Kennedy SD.2056) – FACT SHEET
Eliminate the $40 administrative fee imposed on justice-involved youth needing a bail determination and require the Bail Magistrate, rather than the Officer on Call at a police station, to make the decision about whether an arrested youth should be released or held on bail. (Rep. Decker HD. 3926/ Sen. Gomez SD.2123) – FACT SHEET
Update the bail procedures for juveniles authorizing the Bail Magistrate, rather than the Officer on Call at a police station, to make the decision about whether an arrested youth should be released or held on bail. The bill also eliminate the $40 administrative fee imposed on justice-involved youth needing a bail determination. (Rep. Fluker Oakley HD.2969/ Sen. Gomez SD.186) – FACT SHEET