Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts

An indictment is an accusation by a grand jury - it is a formal way of charging an individual with a crime. In certain circumstances, one may be charged with a crime through a complaint (which is basically an accusation by a less formal procedure) or information (primarily used in federal, not state, court). You can think of it like this: the charge is the offense while the indictment is a means of accusing someone of committing that offense.