Your CORI: A Guide for Massachusetts Residents

Your Criminal Offender Record Information — your CORI — follows you into job applications, apartment applications, and licensing decisions. Most people never see their own until someone else already has. This guide explains what is on it, who is allowed to look, how long each kind of entry stays visible, and what you can do about it.

A note on this page. An earlier version of this post stated that sealing requires waiting 5 years for a misdemeanor and 10 for a felony. Those were the waiting periods before the 2018 criminal justice reform act shortened them. The correct periods are 3 years for a misdemeanor and 7 years for a felony. A number of Massachusetts legal websites still publish the old figures. If you read somewhere that you have to wait 10 years, check the date on what you are reading.

What a CORI Actually Shows

Your CORI lists the charges you have been arraigned on in Massachusetts state court, the arraignment dates, the dates the charges were resolved, and any sentence imposed. A charge appears once you are arraigned — even if it was later dismissed, even if you were found not guilty. What changes after a favorable outcome is not whether the entry exists but who is permitted to see it.

An arrest alone does not create a CORI entry. The record begins at arraignment. That is why resolving a case before arraignment, where it is possible, matters so much.

Sealing: How Long You Have to Wait

Sealing is governed by M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A. For convictions, the waiting periods are:

Misdemeanors: 3 years from the court disposition or from the end of any period of incarceration or custody, whichever is later.

Felonies: 7 years from the court disposition or from the end of any period of incarceration or custody, whichever is later.

The clock is interrupted by a new criminal conviction during the waiting period — but not by a later charge that ended in a not guilty, a dismissal for want of prosecution, a dismissal at the complainant's request, a nolle prosequi, or a no bill. Those dispositions do not restart the count.

A few adjustments are built into the statute. An offense that was a felony when you committed it but has since become a misdemeanor is treated as a misdemeanor. If it cannot be determined whether an offense was a felony, it is treated as a misdemeanor. An offense that is no longer a crime at all can be sealed immediately. A violation of a restraining order under c. 209A § 7 or a harassment prevention order under c. 258E § 9 is treated as a felony, which means the 7-year period applies.

Sealing under § 100A is administrative. You file a form with the Office of the Commissioner of Probation. No hearing, no judge.

What Cannot Be Sealed

This is commonly stated incorrectly. Section 100A applies to court appearances and dispositions of all offenses, with these exceptions:

— Convictions under M.G.L. c. 140, §§ 121 to 131H (the firearms licensing provisions)

— Convictions under c. 268 or c. 268A (crimes against public justice and the conflict of interest law), except convictions for resisting arrest

Sex offenses as defined in c. 6, § 178C are not eligible for sealing for 15 years following disposition — including the end of any supervision, probation or incarceration — or for as long as you remain under a duty to register, whichever is longer. And anyone who has at any time been classified as a level 2 or level 3 sex offender cannot seal a sex offense at all.

Murder and manslaughter are not on the exclusion list. They are felonies, and the 7-year period applies to them like any other felony.

Charges That Were Not Convictions

Section 100C treats these differently, and one part of it is automatic.

If you were found not guilty by a judge or jury, the grand jury returned a no bill, or the court found no probable cause, the Commissioner of Probation shall seal the entry. You do not petition and there is no hearing. It happens unless you file a written request asking that it not be sealed.

If the case ended in a nolle prosequi or a dismissal, sealing requires the court where the case was resolved to find that substantial justice would best be served. That means a petition, public notice posted at the courthouse, and a hearing. If you have dismissals in several courts, you file in each one.

Expungement

Expungement destroys the record rather than restricting access to it, and very few people qualify. The main route requires that every offense occurred before your 21st birthday, that you have no more than two records total, that the felony waiting period of 7 years or misdemeanor period of 3 years has run, and that you have no other court appearances anywhere. A separate and narrow provision under c. 276, § 100K allows expungement regardless of those limits where the record was created by identity theft, an offense that is no longer a crime, demonstrable error by police, witnesses or court staff, or fraud on the court.

We cover the process in detail in our guide to sealing and expunging a Massachusetts criminal record.

Who Can See Your CORI, and for How Long

Access is tiered under M.G.L. c. 6, § 172.

Criminal Justice Agencies

Police, courts, probation and parole get everything, including sealed records, when performing their criminal justice duties. Firearms licensing authorities also get everything including sealed records, which is why sealing does not restore a firearms license. So does the Criminal Record Review Board.

Employers, Landlords and Licensing Bodies

An employer, landlord, volunteer organization or professional licensing entity that obtains your CORI with your signed authorization sees a limited window:

— Felony convictions and findings of not guilty by reason of insanity: 10 years following disposition, including the end of any incarceration or custody

— Misdemeanor convictions: 5 years following disposition, including the end of any incarceration or custody

— Pending charges, which includes a case continued without a finding until it is dismissed

One detail matters more than people expect: as long as your most recent conviction is still inside its window, every earlier conviction stays visible with it. A single new misdemeanor can pull a decade of old entries back into view.

The General Public

Any member of the public can request a limited report:

— Felony convictions punishable by 5 years or more: 10 years after disposition

— Other felony convictions: 2 years after disposition

— Misdemeanor convictions: 1 year after disposition

— Custody status and placement for anyone currently serving probation, incarcerated, or under parole board custody

What Stays Permanently

Convictions for murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and sex offenses punishable by a state prison term remain in the database permanently and are available to the three categories above — unless the record is sealed under c. 276, § 100A.

What an Employer Must Do Before It Uses Your Record

Under § 172(c), anyone holding your criminal history in connection with an employment, volunteer, housing or licensing decision must give you a copy of it — from whatever source they got it — before questioning you about your criminal history, and again if they make an adverse decision based on it. If they already gave it to you before questioning, they need not give it twice.

Separately, under M.G.L. c. 151B, § 4, an employer may not:

— Request criminal offender record information on an initial written application, with limited exceptions where a law or regulation disqualifies people with certain convictions from the position (§ 4(9½))

— Ask about an arrest or charge that did not result in a conviction (§ 4(9)(i))

— Ask about a first conviction for drunkenness, simple assault, speeding, a minor traffic violation, affray, or disturbing the peace (§ 4(9)(ii))

— Ask about any misdemeanor conviction 3 or more years old, measured from the conviction or the end of incarceration, whichever is later, unless you have been convicted of something within the last 3 years (§ 4(9)(iii))

— Ask about anything sealed or expunged under c. 276 (§ 4(9)(iv))

If you decline to answer a question the law says cannot be asked, you have not committed perjury or given a false statement. The statute says so directly.

It is also unlawful under § 172(d) for anyone to request or require that you hand over a copy of your own CORI, except as § 172 authorizes.

Seeing Your Own Record and Fixing Errors

You have the right under c. 6, § 175 to inspect and, where practicable, obtain a copy of everything the department holds on you. The Commissioner publishes guidelines on correcting inaccurate or incomplete information, and the department provides assistance with corrections subject to appropriation. When probation or the court corrects a record, the correction is transmitted to the department and the database is updated.

Separately, under § 172(g), you can request a free self-audit once every 90 days showing who queried your record, when, and the certified purpose. More often than that, the Commissioner may charge a fee.

When Someone Misuses Your Record

The Criminal Record Review Board sits within the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services and hears complaints under c. 6, § 168. It can hear a complaint that someone failed to give you your record before questioning you or before an adverse decision, and it can hear complaints about any other violation of §§ 168 to 178A. Complaints must be signed under the penalties of perjury. There may be a filing fee, waivable on a finding of indigency. The board can order civil fines up to $5,000 for each knowing violation, impose conditions on an entity's continued access, revoke access entirely, or refer the matter for criminal prosecution.

Criminal penalties under c. 6, § 178 reach anyone who knowingly obtains CORI or a self-audit under false pretenses, communicates it outside what the statute allows, falsifies it, or demands a copy of your record when not authorized to: up to 1 year in a jail or house of correction, a fine up to $5,000, or both — and up to $50,000 for an organization.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to wait to seal my criminal record?

Three years for a misdemeanor, seven for a felony, measured from the disposition or the end of any incarceration or custody, whichever comes later. A new conviction during the waiting period restarts the clock; a later case that ended in a not guilty, dismissal or nolle prosequi does not.

My case was dismissed. Do I still have to wait?

Not necessarily. A not guilty finding, a no bill, or a finding of no probable cause is sealed automatically by the Commissioner of Probation. A dismissal or nolle prosequi requires a petition and a hearing, but no waiting period — the court decides whether substantial justice would best be served.

Can an employer ask about a conviction from eight years ago?

If it was a misdemeanor and you have had no conviction in the last three years, no. If it was a felony, the conviction remains visible to an employer for 10 years, so yes — unless it has been sealed.

Will sealing get my firearms license back?

No. Firearms licensing authorities are entitled to see sealed records.

Who can see my sealed record?

Criminal justice agencies performing their duties, firearms licensing authorities, and the Criminal Record Review Board. A sealed record may also be reached by a judge, after an in camera review, in certain family and abuse-related proceedings where it may bear on custody, visitation, abuse, or someone's safety. Employers, landlords and the public cannot see it, and the Commissioner reports that no record exists.

How do I find out who has been looking at my record?

Request a self-audit. It is free once every 90 days and shows who queried your record, when, and why.

Talk to Us

A record you cannot see is hard to fight. If you do not know what is on your CORI, what an employer is entitled to see, or whether your case is eligible to be sealed, we can find out and tell you plainly.

Being accused is traumatic. So is being followed by that accusation for years afterward. We understand both, and we can help.

Free consultation. Call 978-969-2890. The phone is answered at any hour.

H. Ernest Stone, Attorney PC — Criminal Defense
900 Cummings Center, Suite 321-U, Beverly, MA 01915
es@herneststone.com

We'll Get You Through the Storm

Comprehensive criminal defense for good people who have had a really bad day. We view each client not as a set of legal problems, but as a whole individual living a unique and valued life.