The Future Is Automatic: Necessary Changes to Massachusetts' CORI Sealing Process
![handle is hein.journals/newlr57 and id is 31 raw text is:
The Future is Automatic: Necessary
Changes to Massachusetts' CORI Sealing
Process
Andrew Tucker Bobbitt*
INTRODUCTION
Criminal records and the laws surrounding them are more relevant
now than ever, as today, one in three Americans has a criminal
record.1 While the United States has committed itself to providing
equal housing and employment opportunities to all citizens countless times
throughout its history,2 those with criminal records continue to struggle
securing access and stability for both.3 Laws regulating access to criminal
records and the ways in which employers and landlords may consider them
vary from state to state, with Massachusetts widely considered more
progressive than most.4 The protections that Massachusetts law affords to
* J.D., New England Law I Boston (2023). This Note was inspired by my experience with
the New England Law CORI Sealing Initiative and by all those affected by inadequate
criminal justice laws. I want to thank Anna Hagg, Nicole Barrett, Benito Zappia, and the entire
New England Law Review staff for their contributions to this Note. Finally, I want to thank
my wife, Rachel Tucker Bobbitt, for supporting and encouraging me in everything that I do.
1 Chidi Umez & Rebecca Pirius, Improving Access to Licensed Occupations for Individuals with
Criminal Records, NCSL: NAT'L CONF. OF ST. LEGISLATURES (July 17, 2018),
https://perma.cc/ZU5W-5SFY.
2 See No Second Chance: People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing, HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH § 3 (Nov. 18, 2004), https://perma.cc/JM8U-L77P (mentioning several acts
throughout America's history that call for equal opportunities for all) [hereinafter No Second
Chance].
3 See generally Collateral Consequences, PRISON POL'Y INITIATIVE, https://perma.cc/KP52-ANH4
(last visited Nov. 25, 2022) (emphasizing the millions of people dealing with collateral
consequences).
4 Lisa Guerin, Massachusetts Law on Employer Use of Arrest and Conviction Records, NOLO,
https://perma.cc/G44Z-JPQF (last visited Nov. 25, 2022) (describing Massachusetts as having
among the strongest protections for applicants with criminal records).
21](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/newlr57&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Future Is Automatic: Necessary Changes to Massachusetts' CORI Sealing Process
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