EPOCA

Public Safety Campaign

Our greatest recent victory has been to reform the system of “Criminal Offender Record Information” or “CORI” in Massachusetts. Along with our partners in the Commonwealth CORI Coalition, we have fought long and hard for these changes, and we will now work to ensure that they are carried out effectively.

First, the new law will limit the information accessible by landlords and employers to conviction data. Many people are punished with the denial of housing and jobs for crimes they were charged with but did not commit. Moreover, people of color are disproportionately arrested and charged with crimes they did not commit, and are then further “profiled” down the road when employers read charges on the CORI that have been thrown out or proven false.

Second, the law will dramatically reduce the time it takes before one's record is sealed from public view. Currently, it takes 15 years after parole to seal the record of a felony, and 10 years after a misdemeanor. Once the law is fully implemented in 2012, it will take only 10 years for a felony and 5 for a misdemeanor. This reform will bring enormous relief to tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents and their families. Also, unlike today, the "sealing clock" will begin as soon as a person re-enters the community, rather than after parole or probation.

Our goal is not just to reform CORI, but to change the way people with criminal records are treated by society as a whole. By putting ourselves forward as examples, our members educate and inspire everyone we touch. In our hundreds of meetings at colleges, churches, recovery programs, legislators’ offices, and businesses, we break down the assumptions underlying the failed “tough on crime” policies of the last three decades.