Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 87 (2026)

Placing certain persons in care of probation officer

✓ current as of July 2026

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Section 87. The superior court, any district court and any juvenile court may place on probation in the care of its probation officer any person before it charged with an offense or a crime for such time and upon such conditions as it deems proper, with the defendant's consent, before trial and before a plea of guilty, or in any case after a finding or verdict of guilty; provided, that, in the case of any child under the age of 18 placed upon probation by the superior court, he may be placed in the care of a probation officer of any district court or of any juvenile court, within the judicial district of which such child resides; and provided further, that no person convicted under section twenty-two A, 22B, 22C, 24B or subsection (b) of section 50 of chapter two hundred and sixty-five or section thirty-five A of chapter two hundred and seventy-two shall, if it appears that he has previously been convicted under said sections and was eighteen years of age or older at the time of committing the offense for which he was so convicted, be released on parole or probation prior to the completion of five years of his sentence.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 94 cases (6 in the last 5 years), 1925–2026 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Tim T., 773 N.E.2d 968 (Mass. 2002).

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Commonwealth v. Tim T., 773 N.E.2d 968 (Mass. 2002). · cites it 14× “Pursuant to G. L. c. 276, § 87 and using the procedure described in Commonwealth v.”

Commonwealth v. Raposo, 905 N.E.2d 545 (Mass. 2009). · cites it 6× “2 Because the defendant, with his consent, has been placed on pretrial probation under G. L. c. 276, § 87, without a guilty plea or admission to sufficient facts, it follows that G.”

Commonwealth v. Millican, 867 N.E.2d 725 (Mass. 2007). · cites it 5× “In addition, persons convicted under § 24G (a) may not be sentenced to less than one year, nor may their sentence be suspended; and they may not receive a disposition of pretrial probation without a change of plea (see G. L. c. 276, § 87) that leads to dismissal.”

Commonwealth v. Taylor, 704 N.E.2d 170 (Mass. 1999). · cites it 6× “On the day of trial, over the objection of the Commonwealth but at the defendant’s request, the judge continued the case until January 12, 1998, without a change of plea, purporting ta act under the authority of G. L. c. 276, § 87. 1 On March 27, 1997, the Commonwealth moved for…”

Commonwealth v. Springfield Terminal Ry. Co., 951 N.E.2d 696 (Mass. App. Ct. 2011). · cites it 7× “Pan Am insists that the term “person,” as used in the relevant statute, G. L. c. 276, § 87, 21 does not encompass corporations.”

Commonwealth v. Pyles, 672 N.E.2d 96 (Mass. 1996). · cites it 4× “t’s jurisdiction, including, unless otherwise prohibited by law, a dispositional request that a guilty finding not be entered, but rather the case be continued without a finding to a specific date thereupon to be dismissed, such continuance conditioned upon compliance with…”

Commonwealth v. Goodwin, 933 N.E.2d 925 (Mass. 2010). · cites it 2× “1042 (1996); G. L. c. 276, § 87. Where probation is coupled with a sentence of imprisonment, with execution suspended for the period of probation, a judge finding a violation of a condition of probation, if she orders any period of imprisonment, must impose the suspended…”

Commonwealth v. Wilcox, 841 N.E.2d 1240 (Mass. 2006). · cites it 2× “Probation is a creature of statute, see G. L. c. 276, §§ 87, 87A; G. L. c. 279, §§ 1-3, with deep roots in the Commonwealth.”

Commonwealth v. McIntyre, 767 N.E.2d 578 (Mass. 2002). · cites it 2× “The judge’s power to order restitution in a criminal case, such as this, derives from the judge’s power to order conditions of probation under G. L. c. 276, §§ 87, 87A, and G. L. c. 279, § 1.”

Commonwealth v. Rotonda, 747 N.E.2d 1199 (Mass. 2001). · cites it 2× “” Such continuances are to be conditioned either on compliance with specific terms and conditions set by the District Court or, in the alternative, by placing the defendant on probation during the period of the continuance pursuant to the provisions of G.”

Cabot v. Lewis, 241 F. Supp. 3d 239 (D. Mass. 2017). “On February 17, 2012, Cabot accepted a disposition of three months’ pretrial probation pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws. ch. 276, § 87. (Id.). The probation was unsupervised.”

Brangan v. Commonwealth, 80 N.E.3d 949 (Mass. 2017). “276, §§ 57 and 58, also authorize a judge to impose conditions on a person’s release in certain domestic abuse cases to ensure “the safety of the alleged victim, any other individual or the community,” as well as “the appearance of the person before the court.”

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