The Quincy District Court, ten miles south of Boston, is one of the busiest district courts in Massachusetts. Last year the court handled more than 7,000 criminal claims and more than 15,000 civil cases. All persons arrested in the Eastern Norfolk County jurisdiction are arraigned at Quincy District Court, usually in the large First Session courtroom downstairs. This courtroom will be the site of Open Court’s live-streaming video.

The First Session is also host to a probation surrenders session and a weekly Drug Court. Upstairs at the court are five more courtrooms, including two jury trial rooms. In the basement is the lockup where incarcerated defendants are brought and held for the day until their hearing. Be sure to meet some of the judges, clerks, probation officers and court officers at the court.

Criminal cases

On a normal day in the court, the criminal cases coming before judges and juries will range from misdemeanors such as drug possession, shoplifting, or first-time drunk driving to more serious felonies such as assault and battery, vehicular homicide, or larceny, among others. Capital crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping are sent up to Superior Court to be heard.

At the arraignment, the court sets the date for the criminal pretrial conference, when both sides resolve any contested issues and choose a trial date. However, not all cases make it all the way to trial, as the D.A.s’ office often offers the defendant the chance to plead guilty to a lesser charge or the same charge with a lesser sentence.

While the court issues restraining orders and hears domestic violence cases, most family matters such as divorce and child custody are heard at a separate Probate and Family Court.

Civil cases

On any given day in the court, family and community conflicts are also being resolved in the civil department: domestic violence victims come to apply for a restraining order, neighbors come to get disputes adjudicated, people come to commit their family members for substance abuse, and negligent landlords or delinquent tenants come to face the consequences.

Among the civil cases handled in the court in 2010, there were more than 1,100 restraining orders, nearly 1,000 substance abuse and mental health cases and more than 1,200 landlord-tenant cases. Additionally, the court also handled more than 5,000 small claims cases and 7,000 motor vehicle infractions.

Roots in the community

Officially known as the District Court of Eastern Norfolk, the court serves the seven communities of Eastern Norfolk County – Braintree, Cohasset, Holbrook, Milton, Quincy, Randolph and Weymouth – and aims to plays crucial role in those communities.

First Justice Mark Coven has said, “I’ve always viewed the district courts as the intersection of the legal process and human services. And that people who come here have court cases but they also have human needs.”

In the latest 2010 census, the demographic breakdown of Norfolk County, in which Quincy District Court’s jurisdiction is located, was 82% white, 5.6% black, 8.6% Asian, 1.9% two or more races and 1.9% other.

To get at the root of crime, the court often sentences defendants to social service organizations in the community, including ones for drug and alcohol rehabilitation, batterer intervention, anger management, mental health, as well as to halfway houses and domestic violence shelters.

Judge Diane Moriarty runs an active Drug Court that monitors every week for 18 months the progress of nonviolent drug offenders who are living in residential treatment facilities and undergoing intensive counseling. The court also runs a 12-week Fatherhood program in the evenings that aims to help fathers develop parenting skills.

The Quincy District Court has a reputation for innovation stretching back decades.

In 1978, the Quincy District Court, recognizing that victims of domestic violence had particular needs, pioneered a system linking together the courts, the police and the D.A’s office that became a nationwide model. They established in the court a dedicated office that takes care of restraining and harassment orders. The D.A’s office assigns to each person who comes in to file a restraining order or as a victim in a domestic violence case or a victim witness advocate who helps him or her navigate the system and accompanies him or her to court hearings. The D.A.’s office also has specially trained domestic violence prosecutors. The court gives priority to new domestic violence cases that come in for arraignment and sets aside a weekly session for hearing restraining order cases as well as one for domestic violence hearings.

In the early 1980’s, the court also established a novel mediation program to help settle smaller cases such as landlord-tenant disputes, harassment orders and small claims without the ruling of a judge or clerk magistrate.

Be sure to read more about the history of Quincy District Court.