Criminal checks

There is an active public debate with respect to the longevity of criminal records. Many advocates are concerned that even a minor crime, committed 20 years ago, can follow a person for the rest of their life. It can limit their job opportunities, marginalizing them and perhaps making it more likely they will return to the criminal sector. This can happen even for incidents such as arrests or dismissed charges, where the accused may be innocent of a crime.

On the federal level there are some limitations imposed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) with respect to the use of criminal background checks in pre-employment screening. In general, events that did not lead to a conviction cannot be reported for more than 7 years. However, many states have rules of their own that restrict things further.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Massachusetts is one of the strictest in terms of limiting employer access to criminal records. Their Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) database is not made available in digital form, and as a result they are one of only 2 states not available in our criminal record database. (Hawaii is the other state.) […]