Massachusetts § 16C Exclusion of public from trial involving crime of incest or rape

Massachusetts Statutes

§ 16C — Exclusion of public from trial involving crime of incest or rape

Massachusetts § 16C

Part IVCRIMES, PUNISHMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES

Title IIPROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES

Ch. 278TRIALS AND PROCEEDINGS BEFORE JUDGMENT

This text of Massachusetts § 16C (Exclusion of public from trial involving crime of incest or rape) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, § 16C (2026).

Text

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.

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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.