Report on Passage of Crime Bill with CORI Reform Provisions
July 31, 2010 (Boston, MA): After 5 years of scores of rallies, many hundreds of meetings with
legislators, and many, many thousands of letters and calls, a Crime Bill with thoughtful CORI
reform measures moved to final passage at 11:00 PM Saturday night just before the
Massachusetts Legislature's session for 2010 ended (see summary of the new CORI law below).
The Crime Bill that this was part of also contains important sentencing reforms and allows use of
dangerousness hearings.
This multi-year campaign organized by the Commonwealth CORI Coalition of community
groups and unions was driven by the determination to enable ex-offenders to have a fair chance
at jobs because they had shown they had rehabilitated themselves and by an urgency to reduce
crime and taxpayer's spending on it.
Hundreds of thousands of adults and youth in our state have been held back from getting
jobs because of severe CORI restrictions. The poignancy of their stories and the determination
of them and supporting community organizations, labor unions, and law enforcement officials,
convinced legislators to take this vote.
We want to thank these organizations for their great contributions to the organizing on this
campaign and leadership in the Commonwealth CORI Coalition: Neighbor to Neighbor, Boston
Worker's Alliance, and EPOCA/Worcester.
Also SEIU, Mass. AFL-CIO, National Assoc. of Social Workers, ACLU, Mass. Law Reform
Institute, the Boston Ten Point Coalition, the Crime and Justice Institute, and the Boston
Foundation added important contributions too.
We at the Safe Teens/Safe Communities Coalition and Massachusetts Communities Action
Network were proud to have been very active in this campaign and the Commonwealth CORI
Coalition too
It was not a "soft on crime" vote when the state's top law enforcement officials stood up for
CORI reform saying it would lessen crime and save taxpayers money. Boston Police
Commissioner Ed Davis said, "CORI reform wasn't for the 'frequent fliers', the repeat offenders,
but would help those who make a mistake once but had rehabilitated themselves to move forward
in their lives".
Senate President Murray, House Speaker DeLeo, Senate Criminal Justice Chair Senator
Cynthia Creem, and House Criminal Justice Chair Representative Eugene O'Flaherty were the
key leaders that got this done. Over 70 legislators co-sponsored the original CORI legislation
and were led by legislators like Senator Harriette Chandler and Representative Liz Malia in this
campaign.
The CORI reform measure in the Crime bill legislation will do three things:
1. Reduce crime and crime victims by reducing recidivism
2. Saves taxpayer dollars by reducing the number of people going to prison and through the
court system.
3. Give ex-offenders who have been crime free since release a true second chance by enabling
them to have a fair chance to get jobs.
Key parts of the CORI legislation included in the Crime Bill passed in the House and Senate are:
1. Removes questions about arrests and convictions from initial job applications, so applicants
are not eliminated at the point of applying for a job. Employers can still conduct a CORI check
during the employment process.
2. Allows records to be sealed after 10 years for felonies and 5 years for misdemeanors. Law
enforcement will always have access to CORI records and CORI records of sex offenders are
never eligible to be sealed.
3. Increases employer access to CORI records with accurate information on CORI records.
4. No longer would a not-guilty ruling or continuance-without-a-finding ruling be included on a
CORI.
This CORI reform legislation is supported by:
· More than 100 community organizations and labor unions that are part of the
Commonwealth CORI Coalition.
· Key law enforcement officials, including Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, District
Attorney Dan Conley, Sheriff Andrea Cabral, Massachusetts Major Police Chief President Dan
O'Leary, MBTA Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan, Chelsea Police Chief Brian Keys
· Key elected officials, including Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, and 70 state legislators who
sponsored the legislation
· Business groups, including the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, the Newmarket Business
Association, and Associated Industries of Massachusetts
The compromise on sentencing reform in the Crime Bill allows parole of non-violent offenders
at House of Corrections if they've serve 2/3 of their sentence and had good behavior while in
jail. This does not apply to prisons where offenders serve longer sentences than those in jails.
Records reform hailed by law enforcement
By O’Ryan Johnson | Sunday, August 1, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com Boston Herald
Photo
Photo by Stuart Cahill (file)
A bill that will limit employers’ access to criminal records, and modify job applications to help
reformed criminals get a job, is expected to head to Gov. Deval Patrick’s desk for approval.
“We are very appreciative of the Legislature’s efforts on CORI reform and look forward to its
passage,” said Patrick’s secretary of public safety, Mary Beth Heffernan, before last night’s
passage.
“We think it’s very important to help ex-offenders get back to work and to help people feel good
about their contributions to society,” she said.
Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley support
laws that give reformed criminals a second chance because they say it will keep criminals from
reoffending.
“(I’m) hopeful that a better chance at employment will improve public safety by reducing
recidivism,” Conley said.
The lawmen are backed by neighborhood activists who say many low-income job seekers are
weeded out before an interview by applications that ask if a person has ever been arrested or
convicted. Under this bill, that question is removed from initial applications, but employers can
discover past convictions through a criminal records search.
“Let’s get applicants and managers talking face to face,” said Emmett Folgert, director of
Dorchester Youth Collaborative. “All of us at some level have had second chances. There is
something to be said for people turning their lives around.”
Lewis Finfer, director of Massachusetts Communities Action Network, said it has taken the
Commonwealth CORI Coalition, representing some 100 neighborhood groups and unions, five
years to reach this point. He said its work will give good people a fresh start.
“This isn’t for frequent fliers. Repeat offenders will never qualify for this,” Finfer said. “This is for
people who made one mistake, who have shown they rehabilitated themselves, to be able to go
on with their life.”
Under the proposed law, when a defendant is found not guilty, or the case is continued without a
finding, the charge will not show up on an employer’s criminal background check. The reform
measure also gives offenders a chance to seal their criminal records with five years of good
behavior for a misdemeanor, and 10 years after a felony. Law enforcement would have access to
an unedited criminal record, and a sex offender’s records cannot be sealed.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1271518
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Lewis Finfer, Executive Director
lewfinfer@gmail.com
Massachusetts Communities Action Network
1773 Dorchester Avenue
Boston, MA 02124
(617) 822-1499
www.mcan-oltc.org