Judiciary committee hears wide-ranging juvenile justice reform bills including diversion, expungement and interrogation protections

Chairs Michael Day and Lydia Edwards heard more than a dozen witnesses on juvenile justice bills that lawmakers and advocates say aim to reduce youth incarceration, limit long-term collateral consequences and stop coerced confessions.

Proponents urged the committee to expand judicial diversion eligibility, make it easier to clear juvenile records, raise the minimum age for youthful offender treatment and adopt protections for juveniles during custodial interrogation. Witnesses also described how automatic sharing of juvenile arrest fingerprint data with federal agencies has led to ICE detentions in Chelsea, raising calls to block that sharing for minors.

The Office of the Child Advocate told the committee that research shows diversion improves outcomes and reduces recidivism. Melissa Threadgill of the Office of the Child Advocate said expanding access to diversion would give “a judge 1 more tool to find solutions” and pointed to the Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program, which she said already operates in seven of 11 district attorney districts and had an 88 percent program completion rate in 2024. Sana Fadel of Citizens for Juvenile Justice described how many young people arraigned later had no adjudication: “Of the 3,900 young people who were arraigned and have a juvenile record, only 600 and some actually were adjudicated delinquent. That's 17 percent.”

Supporters including juvenile defenders and nonprofit…