Advocates are calling on Massachusetts to join 13 other states in enacting Clean Slate Legislation, in which eligible individuals would have their criminal records sealed.
Across the country, the legislation has reached more than 18 million people eligible for full or partial record sealing. In January, Massachusetts filed a Clean Slate bill, which the House concurred with, holding a hearing June 3. Now, it’s awaiting further action in the Senate.
Currently, people looking to seal their records in Massachusetts must compile their records and pay the associated fees before waiting three years after misdemeanours or up to seven years for felonies. Sealing records helps formerly incarcerated people find jobs, housing and education.
“We don’t want past history to be a roadblock for employment, for housing and for many other things where having a record can often lead to people being prohibited,” said Jonathan Cohn, the policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide organization dedicated to advancing racial and social justice and strengthening democracy.
Only about 10% of around 672,000 eligible individuals in Massachusetts have had their records sealed, according to Harvard Law School. (The bill’s framework does not extend to certain cases, such as high-level sex offenses and murder, leaving them ineligible for automated sealing).
Unlike petition-based record-sealing laws in states like California and New York, which often take years to complete, Cohn said the Clean Slate bill aims to minimize delays. By automatically sealing records after a period of law-abiding conduct, the bill shifts the focus from procedural hurdles to demonstrated rehabilitation.
The National Criminal Justice Association, an organization that advocates for sealing criminal records, said access to housing, education and removing record-based barriers to work would lower recidivism rates as individuals are less likely to reoffend when they can stabilize their lives after release.
“Society is able to benefit from this process better … if we’re able to offer better employment opportunities, better housing opportunities,” Cohn said. “We should just streamline the process.”
The Clean Slate initiative in Massachusetts consists of two different bills — the first of which automates Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI, sealing. A CORI document contains an individual’s criminal history in the state, including arrests, charges and convictions.
Access to one’s CORI depends on the person or organization; employers and landlords, for example, see only what their access allows, while sealed records are generally hidden from most outside viewers.
The second bill addresses gaps and inconsistencies within the CORI system itself. Under current state law, records can appear on a person’s CORI even if the case does not result in a conviction, which requires the individual to petition for sealing. The proposed legislation would automatically seal non-conviction records.
“[Discrimination against people with criminal records has] always been bad — landlords using [criminal records] to discriminate when people are applying for housing, employers using [criminal records] at lower levels to discriminate against people and matters of employment,” said Noah Risley, a case manager at Justice4Housing. “The current process to seal your CORI is very long. It’s very cumbersome.”
Risley added that the criminal legal system is also applied unevenly, often mirroring existing racial and economic disparities.
“We already prosecute a disproportionate amount of our Black and brown population. They’re already paid less statistically. They have less access to the resources that they need,” Risely said. “We’re trying to kind of level the playing field to make [sealing] automatic, so that folks don’t have to jump through a million hoops to clear their CORI, just so that they have the same kind of access as you and me or anyone else taking a job.”
Risley explained that the upfront cost of the bill (which is currently unknown but will likely be in the millions, according to Risley) would be a one-time expense. Moreover, they said, it may help mitigate the ongoing labor shortages in the state.
“We educate the men about the accountability and the responsibility of themselves. Coming back to reentry is rough, and then it’s hard because it’s like double jeopardy,” said a formerly incarcerated mentor at Men of Color Health Awareness, or MOCHA, who only identified himself as Brother AI.
“This prison system is like a revolving door,” Brother AI said. “But if we can give people this opportunity when they come out, [record] sealing will at least give people a chance to go get a job or go back to school … This change we have here at the table is important for the next generation, but the system has to change to empower people and inspire them for positive change.”
