SECTION 1.  Section 55A of chapter 119 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first 2 sentences and inserting in place thereof the following 3 sentences:- Trial of a child complained of as a delinquent child or indicted as a youthful offender in a division of the juvenile court department shall be by a jury, unless the child files a written waiver and consent to be tried by the court without a jury. Such waiver shall not be effective over the objection of the commonwealth.  Such waiver shall also not be received unless the child is represented by counsel or has filed, through his parent or guardian, a written waiver of counsel.

SECTION 2. Subsection (c) of section 56 of said chapter 119 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting, after the word “shall” in line 19, the following words:- , in the absence of an objection from the commonwealth, .

SECTION 3. The first paragraph of section 26A of chapter 218 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first 2 sentences and inserting in place thereof the following 3 sentences:- Trial of criminal offenses in the Boston municipal court department and in the district court department shall be by a jury of six persons, unless the defendant files a written waiver and consent to be tried by the court without a jury. Such waiver shall not be effective over the objection of the commonwealth. Such waiver shall also not be received unless the defendant is represented by counsel or has filed a written waiver of counsel. 

SECTION 4.  Section 6 of chapter 263 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting, after the second sentence, the following sentence:-  No such waiver shall be effective over the objection of the commonwealth.

SECTION 5. The third sentence of said section 6 of said chapter, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the words “If the court consents to the waiver, ” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- If the commonwealth does not object and the court consents to the waiver, .

SECTION 6. Section 2 of chapter 278 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding, after the word “law” in line 5, the following words:- and the commonwealth does not object to the waiver of the jury .

SECTION 7. Section 11A of chapter 278 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the fifth sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:-  A defendant may waive trial by jury unless the commonwealth objects.