A few kids I know got charged with Malicious Assault?

Question

A few friends of mine recently got in a little trouble with the law after egging a house, as well as placing ham on top of a car (because they thought it would ruin the paint). Well it turns out the kid whose car they ham'd was Jewish, and the cops kinda think it might have been a hate crime. My friends thinks they can convince them it wasn't a hate crime. Well this all happened in the great state of Massachusetts, and I was just wondering if anyone knew what type of penalty we're talking about here. I heard something about "malicious destruction", and I don't exactly know what that means, but if there are any lawyers out there who would be willing to help me out, I'd appreciate it. I'd kinda like to know what the best and worst case scenarios are for the kids, I don't want to see them behind bars. They're all 15 or 16, and the people they "pranked" aren't pressing charges, but the cops had already found out about it, so they're still ******. Any help here would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Regardless of what state your in a 15 and 16 year old is not going to sit behind bars due to "malicious destruction".  If it was a prank, so be it, it'll be found as that I'm sure.  They may receive probation, fines, or community service.  This also depends on what prior behavior they've shown, as in being in trouble with the law before......

They will more than likely receive a slap on the hand for what they did and be required to do community service........aside from that they probably require a good slap on the a** from their parents no matter what their age.