Last Friday, Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill that will bring long-awaited reforms to the criminal justice system in Massachusetts, including significant changes to the Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI, system.
At the signing, Patrick was surrounded by members of activist groups that have spent years working to change the system, which they contended placed undue burdens on ex-offenders as they attempted to find jobs or housing, or otherwise move forward with their lives.
Under the new bill, felony convictions will be sealed on a person’s record after 10 years, down from the current 15, and misdemeanors will be sealed after five years, down from 10. In addition, employers will no longer be able to ask job applicants if they have a criminal record on an initial job application—a practice, critics say, that leads to the indiscriminate elimination of candidates with records. Under the new law, employers can still ask about records, but only later in the hiring process.
The bill also will make it easier for employers to access the state criminal-record system by putting the information online; as it now stands, many employees instead rely on unregulated for-profit companies that offer background checks online, which can be filled with errors. In addition, employers will now have to notify candidates in writing if they plan to check their criminal records. The reforms will be phased in over the next two years.
At the signing ceremony, Patrick praised the Legislature “for sending me this tough and smart anti-crime package. I have long advocated for sensible CORI reform in recognition of the fact that the best way to break the vicious cycle of recidivism is to make it possible for people to get jobs and re-integrate into society. This legislation brings our outdated criminal history database into the 21st century, ensures law enforcement agencies, employers and housing providers have access to accurate and complete records in appropriate circumstances and helps people get back to work so they can support their families.”
In addition to the CORI changes, the criminal justice bill also addressed sentencing laws, including a change that will allow people serving mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug-related convictions in county jails to be eligible for parole after serving half of their sentence.
The Boston-based Families Against Mandatory Minimums called the reform bill “limited but promising.”
“Over the years the studies have amassed, showing that mandatory minimum sentences do not reduce either drug offenses or drug dependency and addiction,” Barbara Dougan, project director for FAAM, said in a statement last week. “Instead, too often they result in nonviolent or low-level offenders being punished with the same lengthy sentences intended for drug kingpins.” Dougan praised both the Legislature for showing the “courage” to change laws that don’t work, and Patrick for his leadership on the issue.
The bill, however, did not include two other reform measures that had previously been passed by the Senate: one that would have allowed non-violent drug offenders in state prisons to apply for parole after serving half of their sentence, as the new law will allow county prisoners to do, and another that would allow drug offenders to apply for work-release programs. FAMM has vowed to continue pushing for those changes in the next legislative session.
