House OKs CORI reform legislation

BOSTON —  The House tonight approved legislation that would reduce the waiting periods for sealing criminal records from public view and prohibit employers from asking about past criminal records on initial job application forms.

The legislation aimed at eliminating barriers to jobs and housing faced by hundreds of thousands of residents with prior criminal records, would allow sealing of felony crime records after 10 years instead of the current 15 years.

It would also allow sealing of misdemeanors from public view after five years instead of the current 10-year waiting period.

House Judiciary Chairman Eugene L. O’Flaherty, D-Chelsea, said the intent of the measure, which has been worked on for several years, is supported by national studies that show that people who remain out of the criminal system for six or seven years after earlier crimes, are less likely to re-offend.

He said the reforms will give meaning to the rehabilitation process and “are smart on crime as opposed to being weak on crime” by encouraging those with past records to join the workforce.

The House bill, approved on a 138-17 vote, is similar to a Senate bill adopted in November that provides for the same reductions in the waiting period for sealing criminal records.

Unlike the Senate, the House did not include provisions that provide for early parole for non-violent offenders serving mandatory sentences once they complete two-thirds of their sentences. Those provisions are aimed at directing inmates to treatment programs after their early release. Differences in the two bills are expected to be worked out in conference committee, before final enactment.

A Pew Charitable Trust study indicates large numbers of people across the state will be directly affected by the bill. One in 24 adults in the state, or more than 200,000 people were either in jail or on parole or probation in Massachusetts at the end of 2007, and even larger numbers are believed to have older criminal records affected by the legislation.

Police would continue to have access to all criminal records and crimes of murder and manslaughter would not be subject to sealing. Also sex offender records could not be sealed and would remain accessible to the public.