CORI reforms bill filed; Changes to help ex-cons get jobs.

Byline: John J. Monahan

BOSTON - Gov. Deval L. Patrick filed legislation yesterday that would reduce the time the public could view most criminal records - from 15 years to 10 years for felonies and from 10 years to 5 years for misdemeanors - to make it easier for past offenders to get jobs and to reduce prison recidivism.

The changes are among numerous proposed reforms to the state's Criminal Offender Record Information law laid out by the governor after a year of study.

"CORI was never intended to turn every offense into a life sentence," the governor said in a statement

announcing the initiative. "All but a handful of people incarcerated are eventually released, and they need to get back to work."

While the change in the length of time before records are sealed and some other changes would require legislative approval, several changes were implemented by the governor by executive order yesterday.

The legislation also would increase access to sealed criminal records for police and criminal justice agencies, granting them access to all criminal records sealed by the courts, and would impose a new penalty of $5,000 or one year in prison for those convicted of making unauthorized requests, unauthorized use or dissemination of CORI records.

Handling of juvenile records would not change under the legislation.

Meanwhile, the governor directed state agencies to implement several other changes in the handling of criminal records.

Under the executive order, state agencies would only be allowed to check a job applicant's criminal background "once an applicant has been deemed qualified" for a position, and only when the contents of a criminal record are relevant to the duties of the job.

The order also requires the board that oversees the CORI records to set up new training standards for employees handling criminal record requests. It also requires several state agencies to conduct public education programs to advise the public of the rights they have under the criminal offender record information system and to inform employers of permissible uses of criminal records.

That program also will include a review of federal and state laws governing the use of criminal records to make public housing decisions meant to reduce placement of ex-offenders. In addition, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services is being directed to revise its hiring guidelines for human services providers and vendors, and the state Office of Workforce Development has been told to develop recommendations to improve pre-release and post-release job training programs for prison inmates.

The governor's office said the reforms are aimed at reducing recidivism rates by increasing job opportunities for those with criminal histories and to improve the accuracy of CORI files and make them more readily understandable to the public and employers.

The proposed new limits on how long a criminal record would remain unsealed for public viewing would only apply to individuals who had no subsequent criminal activity during that period. The bill would provide that sex offender criminal records never be sealed and would maintain the current 10-year public access to records for misdemeanor violations of restraining orders.

Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Suzanne M. Bump said employers and job seekers should benefit from the reforms, as many employers have jobs that go unfilled while many ex-offenders cannot get those jobs because of barriers posed by the criminal record system.

"These reforms will reduce those barriers and will support policies that promote education, re-entry and job training in a tight labor market," she said.