Boston Police Court and Justices' Court for the County of Suffolk

The court's history dates to 1822, the year in which Boston was chartered as a city. Two courts were established, both served by the same judges: the Boston Police Court, to hear criminal matters, and the Justices' Court for the County of Suffolk, to address civil claims. The two courts remained distinct until 1860 when the Justices' Court was abolished, and its civil jurisdiction transferred to the Police Court.^[1]

Municipal Court of the City of Boston/Boston Municipal Court Department

In 1866, the Police Court was abolished, and its records and jurisdiction transferred to the newly created Municipal Court of the City of Boston.^[1] In 1978, the Massachusetts Court Reform Act established the Boston Municipal Court Department as one of the seven departments of the Trial Court of Massachusetts.^[3] In 2003, the department expanded to eight divisions, after it was given authority by the Massachusetts Legislature over seven other Boston-based courts.^[4]

Probation pioneer

The Boston Police Court has the distinction of participating in the initial development of the modern concept of probation in the United States. In 1841 John Augustus, the "Father of Probation", persuaded a judge in the Police Court to give him custody of a convicted "common drunkard" for a brief period. The offender was ordered to appear in court three weeks later for sentencing. He returned to court accompanied by Augustus a sober man, his appearance and demeanor dramatically changed. The judge was so impressed with his sober and dignified appearance that he waived the usual penalty of 30 days in jail and instead levied a fine of one cent plus court costs ($3.76).^[5]

Augustus thus began an 18-year career as a volunteer probation officer, subsequently credited with founding the investigations process, one of three main concepts of modern probation, the other two being intake and supervision. Augustus was also the first to apply the term "probation" to his method of treating offenders from the Latin verb "probare": to prove, to test.^[6]

In 1878 a law was passed by the legislature authorizing the Mayor of Boston to appoint a probation officer for Suffolk County.^[7] The continued success of the system led to its extension to district and police courts in other towns and cities in the state. In 1898 a law was passed extending the probation system by authorizing the appointment of probation officers by the Superior Court.^[7]

Judges

As of 2024, the court's members are as follows:^[13]

Chief Justices

• John W. Bacon (1866–1871)^[1]
• Mellen Chamberlain (1871–1878)^[1]
• John Wilder May (1878–1883)^[1]
• William E. Parmenter (1883–1902)^[1]
• John Freeman Brown (1902–1906)^[14]
• Wilfred Bolster (1906–1939)^[15]
• F. Delano Putnam (1939–1943)^[16]
• Davis B. Keniston (1943–1954)^[17]
• Elijah Adlow (1954–1973)^[18][19]
• Jacob Lewiton (1973–1978)^[20]
• Harry J. Elam (1978–1983)^[21]
• Theodore A. Glynn, Jr. (1983–1986)^[22]
• Joseph F. Feeney (1986–1988)^[23]
• William J. Tierney (1988–2002)^[24]
• Charles R. Johnson (2003–2013) (Acting 2002–2003)^[25]
• Roberto Ronquillo, Jr. (2013–2023)^[26]
• Tracy-Lee Lyons (2024–)

Notable former judges

• Jennie Loitman Barron, 1937–1959; first woman to serve as a full-time judge in Massachusetts.^[27]
• Matthew Brown, 1962–1972; special justice of the Municipal Court of Boston^[28]
• Margaret Burnham, 1977–1982; First African American female judge in Massachusetts^[29][30]
• Richard J. Chin, 1989–1993; first Asian American judge in Massachusetts.^[31]
• Joseph DeGuglielmo, 1971–1978, associate justice and former Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts^[32]
• Harry J. Elam, 1971–1983 (Chief Justice 1978–1983); first African American Chief Justice in Massachusetts, and the first African-American appointee to the BMC.^[21]
• Serge Georges Jr., 2013–2020; In 2020, Georges was appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
• Linda Giles, 1991–1998; First openly LGBT female appointed as a judge in Massachusetts^[33]
• Charles A. Grabau, 1979–1985; first Hispanic judge in Massachusetts.^[34]
• Myong J. Joun, 2014–2023; In 2023, Joun was appointed by President Joe Biden to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
• Dermot Meagher, 1989–2006; first openly gay judge in Massachusetts.
• George A. O'Toole Jr., 1982–1990; In 1995 O'Toole was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. O'Toole presided over the 2015 trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing.^[35]
• George Lewis Ruffin, 1883–1886; appointed to Municipal Court of Charlestown; first African-American judge in the United States.^[21]
• Eleanor C. Sinnott, 2006–2023; First Korean-American judge in Massachusetts^[36]
• George Duncan Wells, 1859–1862; resigned his seat and entered the service during the Civil War, died in Strasburg, Virginia on October 13, 1864.^[1]
• Mario Umana, 1973–1991