After years of dedicated grassroots organizing, the CORI Coalition will see results from years of hard labor as the legislation is implemented. JALSA was a part of a broad coalition of civic, religious, union, and community groups working with Governor Patrick and his administration officials to address obstacles which blocked many people from obtaining work. While the CORI system was supposed to provide information about people convicted of violent crime to agencies specifically working with children and seniors, it had expanded to include persons arrested, but not convicted, of non-violent crimes, as well as violent ones, and huge obstacles stood in the way of anyone trying to correct an inaccurate record.

Starting November 4th, “Ban the Box” statewide is now in effect (Link) , making Massachusetts only the second state in the country to remove the criminal history question from initial job applications for all public and private employers. Enforcement will be by the Massachusetts Office Against Discrimination (MCAD). The Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS), formerly the Criminal History Systems Board is also a source of information.

The law makes major changes to the way employers and others obtain access to Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and provides important protections to individuals with criminal records. Some parts of the law, such as the provision that prevents certain employers from asking whether an applicant has been convicted of a criminal offense on an initial written employment application, became effective on November 4, 2010. Other parts of the law, such as the provisions that reduce the waiting periods for sealing records, will become effective on May 4, 2012.