Courts

Criminal cases are heard in two types of courts in Massachusetts: District and Superior. District Courts handle misdemeanor offenses while Superior Courts handle felonies. Each District Court has jurisdiction over a limited geographical area, either a single large city or several cities or towns. The jurisdiction of each Superior Court is the County in which it sits. Thus in the City of Boston, for example, there is a Boston Municipal Court -- which is essentially a District Court -- and it has various divisions that cover different parts of the city. Boston also comprises most of Suffolk County and contains the Suffolk Superior Court.