Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 24C (2026)

Victim's name; confidentiality

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 24C. That portion of the records of a court or any police department of the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions, which contains the name of the victim in an arrest, investigation or complaint for rape or assault with intent to rape under section thirteen B, 13B1/2, 13B3/4, twenty-two, twenty-two A, 22B, 22C, twenty-three, 23A, 23B, twenty-four or twenty-four B, inclusive, of chapter two hundred and sixty-five, or an arrest, investigation or complaint for trafficking of persons under section 50 of said chapter 265, shall be withheld from public inspection, except with the consent of a justice of such court where the complaint or indictment is or would be prosecuted.

Said portion of such court record or police record shall not be deemed to be a public record under the provisions of section seven of chapter four.

Except as otherwise provided in this section, it shall be unlawful to publish, disseminate or otherwise disclose the name of any individual identified as an alleged victim of any of the offenses described in the first paragraph. A violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not less than two thousand five hundred dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 39 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1990–2025 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Scott, 564 N.E.2d 370 (Mass. 1990).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Commonwealth v. Scott, 564 N.E.2d 370 (Mass. 1990). · cites it 2× “As to the judge's power to order release of the police report, see G.L.c. 265, § 24C (1988 ed.), and G.L.c. 41, § 97D (1988 ed.”

Commonwealth v. George W. Prescott Publ'g Co., 463 Mass. 258 (Mass. 2012). · cites it 2× “258E); G. L. c. 265, § 24C (“portion of the records of a court or any police department .”

Commonwealth v. Asenjo, 477 Mass. 599 (Mass. 2017). · cites it 2× “See G. L. c. 265, § 24C. Sara was born in March, 1996, and she was eighteen years of age at the time of trial.”

Commonwealth v. Kebreau, 909 N.E.2d 1146 (Mass. 2009). “See G. L. c. 265, § 24C. We acknowledge the amicus brief in support of the Commonwealth submitted by the Victim Rights Law Center; the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center; The National Crime Victim Law Institute; The Domestic & Sexual Violence Council, Inc.”

Commonwealth v. Hartnett, 892 N.E.2d 805 (Mass. App. Ct. 2008). “‘Pursuant to G. L. c. 265, § 24C, we employ a pseudonym for the victim.”

Commonwealth v. McGhee, 35 N.E.3d 329 (Mass. 2015). “have been omitted in accordance with G. L. c. 265, § 24C (requiring confidentiality of name of victim in arrest, investigation, or complaint for rape under G.”

Commonwealth v. Walters, 37 N.E.3d 980 (Mass. 2015). “2 In accordance with G. L. c. 265, § 24C, we omit the victim’s name from this opinion.”

Commonwealth v. Jones, 117 N.E.3d 702 (Mass. 2019). “See G. L. c. 265 § 24C. We recognize that ordinary cell phone users are likely unfamiliar with the complexities of encryption technology.”

Commonwealth v. Avalos, 906 N.E.2d 987 (Mass. 2009). “A pseudonym, pursuant to G. L. c. 265, § 24C. The exterior of the “diary” looks like a book, but it contains questions and spaces to write answers.”

Commonwealth v. Jansen, 942 N.E.2d 959 (Mass. 2011). “See G. L. c. 265, § 24C (mandating victim’s name in rape case be kept confidential).”

Commonwealth v. Santiago, 760 N.E.2d 800 (Mass. App. Ct. 2002). “Pursuant to G. L. c. 265, § 24C, we use the pseudonyms Yvonne, Victoria, Stephanie, and Julia for the four victims.”

Commonwealth v. Scott, 754 N.E.2d 728 (Mass. App. Ct. 2001). “G. L. c. 265, § 24C. The defendant was also charged with rape as a second or subsequent offense.”

Show all 39 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.