Mass. Gen. Laws » Part IV Title II Chapter 278
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, § 16C (2026)

Exclusion of public from trial involving crime of incest or rape

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 16C. To protect the parties involved at a trial arising from a complaint or indictment for incest or rape, the trial judge may exclude all spectators from the courtroom in which such trial is being held, or from said courtroom during those portions of such trial when direct testimony is to be presented; provided, that either of the parties requests that all spectators be so excluded at the trial or portions thereof; and provided further, that the defendant in such trial by a written statement waives his right to a public trial for those portions from which spectators are so excluded.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 1980–1980 · leading case: Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 401 N.E.2d 360 (Mass. 1980).
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Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 401 N.E.2d 360 (Mass. 1980). · cites it 4× “This is eloquently demonstrated by G.L.c. 278, § 16C, inserted by St. 1978, c.”
Commonwealth v. Rahilly, 410 N.E.2d 1223 (Mass. App. Ct. 1980). “Com *912 pare G. L. c. 278, § 16C. At the outset, we note that the record reflects that a reporter for a local newspaper, who was present at the hearing, wrote a story covering the proceedings.”
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.