Wallace W. v. Commonwealth

**789The recent amendment to G. L. c. 119, § 52, excludes from the definition of "[d]elinquent child," and thus from the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court, children who commit "a **790first offense of a misdemeanor for which the punishment is a fine, imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than [six] months or both such fine and imprisonment." The meaning of the term "first offense" under the statute is the central issue of this case.

A delinquency complaint issued against the juvenile that charged him with a misdemeanor that carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment of…