A felony in Massachusetts is any crime punishable by a sentence to state prison. Everything else — any offense capped at time in a county house of correction — is a misdemeanor. That single line, drawn by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 274, Section 1, is the whole definition.1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 274, Section 1 – Felonies and Misdemeanors The statute also references crimes punishable by death, but Massachusetts no longer has capital punishment, so in practice the dividing line is state prison exposure.2Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Law About the Death Penalty
What the definition does not tell you is what any particular felony will cost. Unlike New York or Oregon, Massachusetts does not sort felonies into lettered or numbered classes. Each offense carries its own statutory penalty, so a felony larceny and a first-degree murder sit under the same one-sentence rule with wildly different consequences. To know what you are facing, you have to read the specific statute you are charged under.
Why There Is No Felony Class
Because Massachusetts rejects the class system, there is no generic “Class B felony” penalty to look up. Stealing property worth more than $1,200 is a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison. First-degree murder is a felony punishable by life without parole. Both qualify under the same definition.
Sentencing within those statutory ranges is guided by advisory guidelines. Judges start from a recommended range but are free to go above or below it, taking into account things like the severity of the harm, whether a weapon was used, the defendant’s record, and evidence of rehabilitation.3Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Advisory Sentencing Guidelines The guidelines are a starting point, not a cap.
Penalties by Offense
Rather than a class chart, Massachusetts has a long list of statutes. These are some of the most common felony categories and what they carry.
Violent Crimes
First-degree murder — a killing with premeditation, extreme cruelty, or committed during another life-punishable felony — carries life in state prison with no parole for adults.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 1 – Murder Defined Second-degree murder also carries a life sentence, but the judge sets a minimum before parole eligibility. Juveniles convicted of first-degree murder between ages fourteen and seventeen receive a parole-eligibility date rather than flat life without parole.5General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 2 – Punishment for Murder
Manslaughter — an unlawful killing without the malice required for murder — carries up to twenty years in state prison, rising to life if the killing occurred during a home invasion.6General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 13 – Manslaughter
Armed robbery carries up to life. If the weapon is a firearm, there is a five-year mandatory minimum for a first offense and fifteen years for a subsequent offense, with another five-year mandatory add-on if the robber was masked or disguised.7General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 17 – Armed Robbery
Property Crimes
Larceny crosses from misdemeanor to felony at $1,200. Above that threshold, it carries up to five years in state prison or a fine of up to $25,000. The same felony penalty applies to larceny of a firearm regardless of value.8General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 266, Section 30 – Larceny General Provisions and Penalties
Breaking and entering at night into a building, ship, or vehicle with intent to commit a felony carries up to twenty years.9General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 266, Section 16 – Breaking and Entering at Night When the target is an occupied dwelling and the offender is armed or assaults someone inside, the penalty rises to life or a ten-year minimum, with a further mandatory minimum if a firearm is used.10General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 266, Section 14 – Burglary Armed, Assault on Occupants
Drug Offenses
Chapter 94C sets drug penalties by substance and quantity, and the heaviest penalties target trafficking, defined by weight rather than proof of actual distribution.11General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 94C – Controlled Substances Act Trafficking 200 grams or more of cocaine carries a twelve-year mandatory minimum, a twenty-year maximum, and a fine between $50,000 and $500,000. The same twelve-year floor applies to 200-gram heroin trafficking, with a thirty-year maximum.12General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 94C, Section 32E – Trafficking Penalties Mandatory minimums at this level cannot be suspended, and no portion can be served on probation. Trafficking thresholds start at eighteen grams and step up at thirty-six, one hundred, and two hundred grams. Simple possession is treated less severely and sometimes qualifies for drug court or treatment.
Mandatory Minimums and the Habitual-Offender Rule
Mandatory minimums are the sentences a judge cannot shorten, suspend, or let a defendant serve on probation. Several violent-crime and drug-trafficking statutes carry them, which is why the specific charge matters so much more than the general felony label.
Prior convictions can also strip the judge’s discretion. Under Chapter 279, Section 25, someone convicted of a new felony who has two prior state or federal felony convictions, each carrying a sentence of at least three years, must receive the maximum term the new offense allows.13General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 279, Section 25 – Punishment of Habitual Criminals A tougher provision applies to repeat convictions for listed violent offenses (murder, rape, armed robbery, armed home invasion among them): on a third qualifying conviction, the sentence cannot be reduced, suspended, or run concurrently with another sentence, and parole eligibility is restricted.
How Long Prosecutors Have to Charge You
Most felonies cannot be prosecuted indefinitely. Chapter 277, Section 63 sets the deadlines:14General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 277, Section 63 – Limitation of Criminal Prosecutions
- Murder: no time limit.
- Most sex offenses against adults or children: no time limit, though indictments filed more than twenty-seven years after the offense require independent corroborating evidence beyond mental health expert opinions.
- Rape and certain other sex crimes: fifteen years.
- Domestic violence, stalking, and kidnapping: ten years.
- All other felonies: six years.
Time the defendant spends outside Massachusetts does not count. For certain sex and exploitation offenses against a victim under sixteen, the clock does not start until the victim turns sixteen or reports the crime, whichever comes first.
What a Conviction Costs Beyond the Sentence
The prison or probation term is only part of what a felony conviction means. The rest shows up in paperwork, licensing, and daily life for years afterward.
Voting
Massachusetts suspends the right to vote only during incarceration for a felony. The right returns automatically on release, even while on parole or probation, and no special petition is required to re-register.15Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Can Felons Vote in Massachusetts?
Employment
Under the state’s ban-the-box rule, most employers cannot ask about criminal history on an initial job application. After that stage, they can ask about felony convictions and recent misdemeanors, but not about arrests that did not lead to conviction, sealed or expunged records, juvenile records, or misdemeanor convictions more than three years old if there has been no newer conviction.16Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Guide to Criminal Records in Employment and Housing Licensed fields such as healthcare, education, law enforcement, and financial services often run deeper background checks, and the relevant boards can deny or revoke licenses based on a conviction.
Housing
Landlords can lawfully consider criminal records when screening tenants, and public housing authorities retain discretion to deny assistance based on certain felony convictions.16Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Guide to Criminal Records in Employment and Housing
Firearms
Federal law permanently bars anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing a firearm or ammunition.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Every Massachusetts felony clears that threshold by definition, so a felony conviction effectively ends lawful gun ownership. The Department of Justice has been developing a case-by-case restoration process under 18 U.S.C. Section 925(c), but as of early 2026 it is not yet fully operational.18Department of Justice. Federal Firearm Rights Restoration
Immigration
For non-citizens, a conviction can be devastating. Federal law treats a broad list of offenses as “aggravated felonies” that permanently block the good moral character needed for naturalization: murder, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, fraud over $10,000, and any crime of violence or theft offense where the court imposed a sentence of at least one year, even if that sentence was fully suspended.19U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 4 – Permanent Bars to Good Moral Character An aggravated felony conviction also makes removal almost certain and eliminates most forms of relief.
Travel and Jury Service
A U.S. passport can be denied to anyone currently imprisoned, on supervised release for a federal or state drug felony, or subject to an outstanding felony arrest warrant. Canada and other countries routinely refuse entry to people with felony records without a special permit. Trusted-traveler programs such as TSA PreCheck and Global Entry permanently disqualify applicants with convictions for espionage, treason, terrorism, or murder, and impose a seven-year bar from conviction (or five years from release, whichever is later) for offenses including firearms violations, arson, robbery, and drug distribution.20Transportation Security Administration. Disqualifying Offenses and Other Factors A felony conviction also disqualifies a person from federal grand or petit jury service unless civil rights have been restored.21Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1865 – Qualifications for Jury Service
Public Benefits
Massachusetts has fully opted out of the federal lifetime SNAP ban for drug felonies, so a drug conviction alone will not disqualify a person from SNAP in the state. Congress in 2020 repealed the ban on federal student aid for incarcerated students and those with drug convictions, so a felony no longer automatically blocks Pell Grants or federal student loans.
Clearing a Felony Record
Massachusetts offers two routes to limit public access to a conviction, and they are not interchangeable.
Sealing under Chapter 276, Section 100A hides the record from most employers and landlords but keeps it available to law enforcement and certain licensing agencies. The waiting period for sealing a felony is generally ten years after the full sentence (including probation or parole) is completed, with no new offenses during that window. Sex offenses and weapons convictions cannot be sealed.
Expungement goes further by destroying the record so that no court or government agency can access it. Time-based expungement of a felony becomes available seven years after sentence completion, but eligibility is tightly limited. The person can have no more than two total records, and the offense cannot have caused or been intended to cause death or serious bodily injury, involved a dangerous weapon or a firearms violation, been any sex offense, been a felony under Chapter 265 (the violent-crimes chapter, which pulls in assault, robbery, murder, and related offenses), been an OUI, or been a restraining order violation or domestic assault.22Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Find Out If You Can Expunge Your Criminal Record A separate non-time-based expungement is available when the record resulted from identity theft, a clerical error, or prosecution for conduct that is no longer a crime, such as possession of small amounts of marijuana. Filing fees typically run a few hundred dollars.
Defending a Felony Charge
The right defense depends on the charge, but several levers apply across felony cases.
Suppression motions attack how the evidence was obtained. If police searched without a valid warrant or exceeded one, or stopped and seized a person in violation of the Fourth Amendment or the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, the resulting evidence can be excluded. Losing a key piece of physical evidence often guts a prosecution.
Statements made during custodial interrogation are vulnerable too. Police must give Miranda warnings before questioning a suspect in custody; statements obtained without them, or after a suspect has invoked their rights, are generally inadmissible.23Law.Cornell.Edu. Requirements of Miranda
Substantive defenses include self-defense, lack of intent, mistaken identity, and alibi. Massachusetts recognizes a right to use reasonable force in self-defense, and once a defendant introduces some evidence supporting the claim, the prosecution must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt. In property cases, prosecutors have to prove intent to steal or defraud, not just that property changed hands. And where a conviction cannot be avoided, mitigating evidence — age, mental health history, a clean prior record, a minor role in the offense, or concrete rehabilitation steps — can move a sentence within the statutory range, which is often the realistic goal.