Mass. Gen. Laws » Part IV Title II Chapter 276
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 23A (2026)

Warrant management system

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 23A. Whenever a court is requested to issue a warrant, the requesting authority shall provide to the court the person's name, last known address, date of birth, gender, race, height, weight, hair and eye color, the offense or offenses for which the warrant is requested, a designation of the offense or offenses as felonies or misdemeanors, any known aliases and any such information as shall be required for a warrant to be accepted by the criminal justice information system maintained by the department of criminal justice information services. A warrant which contains the above information as provided by the individual for whom the warrant is being issued shall not be nullified if such information is later found to be inaccurate. An individual or law enforcement official seeking issuance of a warrant which does not contain all of the above required fields may apply to the clerk of the court for an exemption from this requirement. Such exemption shall be automatically granted upon the request of any law enforcement official or agency. No rights regarding the validity of a warrant may arise from such requirements not being met. Such information and the name of the police department responsible for serving the warrant shall be entered by the clerk's office into a computer system to be known as the warrant management system. All warrants appearing in the warrant management system shall be accessible through the criminal justice information system, maintained by the department of criminal justice information services to law enforcement agencies and the registry of motor vehicles. The warrant shall consist of sufficient information electronically appearing in the warrant management system, and a printout of the electronic warrant from the criminal justice information system shall constitute a true copy of the warrant. Such warrants appearing electronically in the warrant management system and, in turn, in the criminal justice information system, shall constitute notice and delivery of said warrants to the police department responsible for serving the warrant. Whenever a warrant is recalled or removed, the clerk's office shall, without any unnecessary delay, enter the same in the warrant management system which entry shall be electronically transmitted to the criminal justice information system.

No law enforcement officer, who in the performance of his duties relies in good faith on the warrant appearing in the warrant management system and, in turn, the criminal justice information system, shall be liable in any criminal prosecution or civil action alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, or malicious prosecution or arrest by false pretense.

The issuing court shall provide notification, either before the issuance of a default or arrest warrant or no later than 30 days after the issuance of the warrant, to the subject of the warrant. Such notice shall contain the following information: the name and address of the issuing court, a description of the charge for which the warrant is being issued, a description of the method by which the individual may clear the warrant and a summary of the consequences the individual may face for not responding to the warrant. Such notice shall be deemed satisfactory if notice is mailed to the address stated on the warrant.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases, 2001–2020 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Maingrette, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 691 (Mass. App. Ct. 2014).
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Commonwealth v. Maingrette, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 691 (Mass. App. Ct. 2014). · cites it 6× “See G. L. c. 276, § 23A, as appearing in St. 1994, c.”
Burke v. Town of Walpole, 405 F.3d 66 (1st Cir. 2005). “Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 23A (1998) provides in relevant part that "[w]henever a court is requested to issue a warrant,” the clerk’s office “shall enter” specified information about the individual who is the subject of the warrant “into a computer system to be known as the…”
Commonwealth v. Butler, 985 N.E.2d 377 (Mass. 2013). · cites it 2× “It appears from the docket that court personnel in the District Court failed to enter details concerning the warrant in the warrant management system as required by G. L. c. 276, § 23A. In January, 1993, while still incarcerated on the unrelated charges, the defendant signed a…”
Soto v. Bzdel, 214 F. Supp. 2d 69 (D. Mass. 2002). · cites it 4× “”) In addition, the court believes that its exercise of ongoing jurisdiction would intrude into the right of the Massachusetts courts to decide what appear to be new and important state law questions, namely, the application of a relatively recent (and basically uncon-strued)…”
Foley v. Kiely, 602 F.3d 28 (1st Cir. 2010). “As for the validity of the warrant itself, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 23A, provides that “a printout of the electronic warrant *34 from the criminal justice information system [‘CJIS’] shall constitute a true copy of the warrant.”
Commonwealth v. Butler, 949 N.E.2d 936 (Mass. App. Ct. 2011). “See G. L. c. 276, § 23A. The defendant had been released from his prison sentence three days earlier, on June 21, 1997.”
Commonwealth v. Alves, 14 Mass. L. Rptr. 248 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2001). · cites it 6× “The WMS was enacted pursuant to G.L.c. 276, §23A. Under the statute, the issuing court’s clerk’s office is to enter the defendant’s information and the name of the police department responsible for serving the warrant into the WMS.”
Commonwealth v. Muller, 18 Mass. L. Rptr. 491 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2004). · cites it 6× “276, §23A lists the specific descriptive information that the police must provide to the court when applying for an arrest warrant: “the person’s name, last known address, date of birth, gender, race, height, weight, hair and eye color, .”
Foley v. Kiely, 27 Mass. L. Rptr. 66 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2010). · cites it 3× “2 DISCUSSION M.G.L.c. 276, §23A provides: No law enforcement officer, who in the performance of his duties relies in good faith on the warrant appearing in the management system and, in turn, the criminal justice information system, shall be liable in any criminal prosecution or…”
Holden v. Barry (D. Mass. 2020). “See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 23A; Mass. Legis.”
Soto v. Bzdel, 223 F. Supp. 2d 332 (D. Mass. 2002). “…did not incorporate into the law any indication that a recall notice would supercede a facially valid warrant. See Mass. Gen. L. ch. 276, § 23A.”
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