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The Republican Opposes CORI Changes

By Robert J. Ambrogi

An editorial today in The Republican, Changes in CORI Would Be a Crime, says that Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed changes to the Criminal Offender Record Information law, or CORI, would restrict the public's right to know about criminal convictions in a job applicant's past. The bill -- available here -- proposes various changes to the composition of the criminal history systems board and creates a criminal justice information services department. From the perspective of public and news media access, the significant provisions of the bill are those that reduce the time periods after which offenders can request sealing of their records:

• Records of misdemeanors could be sealed after five years, instead of the current 10 years.
• Records of felonies could be sealed after 10 years, instead of the current 15.
• The requirement of 10 years without a conviction prior to sealing would be changed to five for misdemeanors.
  

Those changes are contrary to the public interest, says The Republican:

"This law was passed as a public safety measure. Parents in Massachusetts, for example, can be reasonably certain that the bus driver who transports their children to school every day does not have a history of drunken driving convictions. That's the CORI at work -- and, although it has its flaws, it does not need to be disassembled."

Full post as published by Media Law on January 16, 2008 (boomark / email).