Plan to seal criminal records quicker

By Rick Ahrens/Daily News correspondent
Source
GHS
Posted Mar 19, 2008 @ 12:33 AM
BOSTON —

People who break the law and then go on to live without any more legal woes should not be shadowed by their mistakes for the rest of their lives, Gov. Deval Patrick told legislators yesterday.

At a hearing before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, the governor made a pitch for reducing the length of time that criminal records are available to public scrutiny.
Under the governor's plan, an offender's record in the Criminal Offender Records Information, or CORI, system would be sealed after 10 years of good behavior following a felony, and five years after a misdemeanor. The current law requires a period of 15 years and 10 years, respectively.

If another offense takes place during those windows, the clock would be reset, Patrick said. Sexual offenses would not be eligible for sealing.

A throng of CORI reform advocates and members of the public squeezed into the Bulfinch Room at the State House to hear the proposed changes.

The standing-room-only crowd spilled into a second hearing chamber when a dividing wall was removed to accommodate everyone present.

The bill's aim, the governor said at the hearing, is to reduce the chances of a former inmate returning to a life of crime by letting good behavior vindicate their past wrongdoings.
The governor said an ex-convict's CORI record may block them from getting jobs. That, Patrick said, would only tempt them back to illegal activities.

"The use of CORI as it stands puts communities in greater jeopardy," Patrick said. "It is against the spirit of the law."

However, some legislators disagree with Patrick's proposed sealing periods. Those periods are still too punitive, they say, and science supports that. Some legislators suggest sealing records after three years for misdemeanors, and seven years for felonies.
"Studies have found that after two years for misdemeanors and six years for felonies, there is no difference thereafter in chances that someone will commit another crime," said Rep. Steven D'Amico D-Swansea.

Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, D-Dorchester, also spoke out against Patrick's proposal. The senator said the state must reduce legal liability on employers who hire people with CORI records.
"The fact is, if you're an employer who hires a person with a CORI record and they do something wrong, that employer is going to find themselves on the 6 o'clock news the next day," she said. "The next day, they'll find themselves in court."

The senator's proposal would give employers a pass on legal liability if an applicant's record does not present them as a "reasonable" risk.

Wilkerson said that a person arrested for driving with an altered license, a felony in Massachusetts, could not be seen as a reasonable risk of future violent crime.
Finally, taking a subtle jab at the governor, Wilkerson said the current law forbids a person with a CORI record is not eligible to work in a casino.
"We can get from repair to reform," Wilkerson said. "But it will take more work than what's been proposed today."

There are an estimated 3.1 million people in Massachusetts with a CORI record. According to statistics from the governor, about 20,000 inmates re-enter society in Massachusetts every year, half of whom will commit crimes within a year. It costs the state $43,000 a year to keep an inmate behind bars.