By: Julie McCormack and Elaine McArdle
Over 1 million people in Massachusetts—nearly one in five residents—have a criminal record, and most of them, 672,000, are eligible to have their criminal records sealed, including many who were never convicted of a crime, according to Clean Slate Massachusetts. Yet only 10 percent who are eligible by law to have their records sealed have done so, which affects their ability to get a job, find housing, and fully participate in their communities despite having served their sentences or been found not guilty.
Clean Slate legislation proposed in Massachusetts will make it much easier for eligible people to have their records sealed by creating a modern, automated system, so they aren’t at the mercy of bureaucratic red tape and delays due to an outdated process where they must petition the court.
In June, nineteen students and staff from the WilmerHale Legal Services Center (LSC) advocated at the Massachusetts State House through Clean Slate Massachusetts for two pending bills that will help people get a fresh start by making it easier to have criminal records sealed, as provided by current law.
Twelve states already have Clean Slate laws, including Oklahoma, Utah, Minnesota, California, and New York, according to Clean Slate Massachusetts, a broad coalition of businesses, community members, advocates, and impacted people working to ensure that conviction and non-conviction records don’t doom Massachusetts residents to a lifetime of poverty and other suffering due to their past mistakes.
The in-person legislative briefing on June 17th was before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Criminal Justice Reform Caucus to advocate for the two pending bills.
The first, An Act Requiring Clean Slate Automated Record Sealing (S.1114/H.1811), would establish automated record sealing for all eligible individuals. The second, An Act to Remove Collateral Consequences and Protect the Presumption of Innocence (S.1124/H.1693), would emphasize to anyone requesting a person’s criminal records that a presumption of innocence applies to anyone charged with an offense that did not result in a conviction or is still pending.
Together, the bills would mitigate the discrimination faced by Massachusetts residents with conviction and non-conviction records, providing better access to employment, housing, and education, and allowing them to take care of their families, avoid recidivism, achieve self-sufficiency, and give back to the community, said by Julie McCormack, Director of LSC’s Safety Net Project.
In advocating for automated record sealing and second chances, Clean Slate and its supporters say that a criminal record should not result in a lifetime of blocked opportunities.
Suzy Champlin, a student at Wellesley College and a summer intern at LSC, was among those who went to the State House. “Administrative sealing, on its face, is not a particularly complicated process,” she said. However, the challenge of interpreting one’s criminal record and requests for it—known as “CORI” in Massachusetts—and understanding “the often complicated, and sometimes convoluted, eligibility rules, present a barrier for many individuals attempting to seal their records,” Champlin said.
Corey Jalbert ’27, a student in the Tax Clinic and Safety Net Project, was also among those advocating for the bills. “I think immediately of one client who faces hardship both in the rental market and the job market due to several non-convictions which would be automatically sealed under Clean Slate reforms,” Jalbert said. “Even though these records are definitively sealable, she lives a busy life as a working mother and struggles to find the time to help us seal her CORI. It is wrong for her life to be unduly burdened by crimes she was not found guilty for, and I am hopeful that the passage of the Clean Slate reforms will ease this burden for similarly situated Massachusetts residents.”
Featured speakers that day included sponsors and co-sponsors Senator Cindy Friedman, Senator Jamie Eldridge, Senator Adam Gomez, Representative Mary Keefe, and Representative Andres Vargas, in addition to Maggie O’Donnell of Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, Jay Ash of MA Competitive Partnership, and Jon Feinman of Inner City Weightlifting. They shared personal anecdotes, as well as inspirational stories, on the extent to which the proposed legislation can change lives.
Following the briefing, LSC students and staff collaborated to advocate for the bills by visiting the offices of state senators and representatives who have not yet co-sponsored the bills. Utilizing written testimony prepared by McCormack and summer intern Kate Vavra, a student at Mount Holyoke College, they shared stories of current LSC clients who face prejudice for non-convictions and dismissals on their criminal record.
“By the end of our visit, we succeeded in gaining at least one new co-sponsor, Representative David Linsky,” said McCormack.
After our visit, student interns reflected on their experiences and spoke on pursuing future action.
“It reminded me of our clients who walk into the office every day with those same barriers hanging over them,”
said Mia Sun, a summer intern and student at Wellesley College.
Felix Holmes, a summer intern and student at Wellesley College, noted that during advocacy meetings,
“I think the staff members were generally receptive, although I felt a stronger sense of urgency is still needed.”
Diana Perez, a summer intern and student at Mount Holyoke College, said,
“The barriers that exist to make criminal record sealing more difficult are hindering so many opportunities. Seeing and hearing all the work done thus far to get this bill passed has inspired me to continue the fight in my own home state of Kansas.”
And Diana Lytvynova, a summer intern and student at Mount Holyoke College, said she wants to
“put my advocacy skills to practice beyond the LSC, and hopefully, make a positive impact in our local communities.”
The Legal Services Center is continuing to support clean slate advocacy efforts, joining a large and diverse coalition of community partners pushing for these racial and social justice reforms, said McCormack.
Those interested in the training or in learning more about LSC’s Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Sealing Initiative can visit the website here.
Contact: Julie McCormack, Senior Clinical Instructor and Director, Safety Net Project, at [email protected]
