Criminal Records and Outcomes in Massachusetts

Massachusetts CORI, Federal Records, Case Outcomes, Sealing, and Expungement

Massachusetts courts and criminal-justice agencies create records when a criminal case begins. Federal agencies may keep fingerprint and disposition information about the same case. Police departments, licensing boards, schools, civil protective-order registries, and private background-screening companies may maintain separate records.

Records kept by different courts, agencies, and organizations do not all contain the same information. Different access rules apply to different records. The records that exist and the people who may obtain them depend on whether a complaint issued, whether arraignment occurred, how the case ended, and whether the record was later sealed or expunged.

Attorney Joe Serpa has practiced Massachusetts criminal defense since 1995. He evaluates both the criminal charge and the records that an arrest, arraignment, disposition, or conviction may create. Attorney Serpa can then seek the outcome that the evidence and law permit while accounting for employment, education, professional licensing, immigration, firearms, and driving consequences.

Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information

M.G.L. c. 6, §§ 167 to 178L governs Massachusetts criminal offender record information, commonly called CORI. Section 167 defines CORI as records and data compiled by a Massachusetts criminal-justice agency that concern an identifiable person and relate to a criminal charge, arrest, pretrial proceeding, judicial proceeding, sentence, incarceration, rehabilitation, or release.

The Department of Criminal Justice Information Services maintains the CORI system. The Criminal Record Review Board reviews complaints concerning access to and use of CORI.

Section 167 places the following limits on what the CORI system includes.

• The statute restricts CORI to information recorded in criminal proceedings that were not dismissed before arraignment.
• The statute excludes an offense for which the law provides no possible term of incarceration.
• The statute principally covers people who were eighteen or older at the time of the offense. The statute also covers a person under eighteen who was adjudicated as an adult in the Superior Court or after transfer from a juvenile session.

Section 167 separately defines "all available criminal offender record information." The definition of “all available criminal offender record information” excludes records sealed under M.G.L. c. 94C, § 34 or M.G.L. c. 276, §§ 100A to 100C, together with the existence of those sealed records.

The firm’s page on Massachusetts criminal records and CORI access explains what different employers, landlords, licensing authorities, courts, and law-enforcement agencies may receive. Different requesters have different levels of access.

Federal and Other Records

The FBI maintains an Identity History Summary under 28 U.S.C. § 534. The federal summary may include the arrest, charge, and final disposition when Massachusetts authorities submit fingerprints and disposition information. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration also check federal records when a person applies for Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck.

A Massachusetts judge cannot directly order the FBI to alter an independently maintained federal record. For the sealing and expungement orders that M.G.L. c. 276, § 100T identifies, the statute requires Massachusetts to notify the FBI and the United States Department of Justice and request a corresponding federal change. A person should verify the FBI file rather than assume that every state change has already appeared there. The guide to expunging or sealing a federal criminal record explains the statutory request and the FBI Identity History Summary Challenge procedure.

Other records remain outside both CORI and the federal identity-history system. A police department may retain its incident report even when no criminal complaint issues. The statewide domestic-violence record-keeping system maintains information about 209A restraining orders and 258E harassment prevention orders under separate rules. The page on removing a Massachusetts registry record of a 209A restraining order or 258E harassment prevention order addresses that distinct procedure.

Schools, licensing authorities, news organizations, and private background-screening companies may also keep information obtained from their own sources. A Massachusetts sealing or expungement order does not automatically erase a record that an independent federal or private entity maintains.

The Court Record Depends on the Procedural Stage

A Complaint Application Before Arraignment

In an eligible case, M.G.L. c. 218, § 35A allows the accused to oppose a complaint at a private clerk-magistrate hearing. No criminal complaint, arraignment, or CORI entry results from an application that the clerk-magistrate denies.

The clerk-magistrate’s denial does not erase a police report, arrest record, booking record, school record, or other record created before the hearing. The denial is not a final judgment. In Attorney Serpa’s experience, however, renewed applications are rare. A denial ordinarily ends the application in practice.

Arraignment and Later Dispositions

Arraignment ordinarily creates a CORI entry. The CORI entry is later updated to show the disposition. A dismissal, not-guilty verdict, continuance without a finding, guilty plea, and guilty verdict therefore produce different entries and different legal consequences.

The amount of CORI information a requester receives depends on the requester’s access level. An employer, landlord, licensing board, court, and law-enforcement agency may receive different information from the same record. Sealing can restrict access to the record, but sealing does not destroy the underlying Massachusetts record.

Criminal Case Outcomes and Their Record Consequences

Dismissal and a Not-Guilty Verdict

A dismissal and a not-guilty verdict are non-conviction dispositions, but their records differ from the record of a matter that ended before arraignment. The CORI entry shows the charge and the disposition unless the record is sealed.

A person whose case ended in dismissal or nolle prosequi may petition the court for sealing under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100C without waiting three or seven years. The judge may seal the record when substantial justice would best be served. A not-guilty finding, grand-jury no bill, or judicial finding of no probable cause must be sealed unless the defendant objects.

The Massachusetts criminal-dismissal guide explains when a prosecutor or judge may end a case before trial. Attorney Serpa has obtained not-guilty verdicts in Massachusetts OUI jury trials across Eastern Massachusetts. Representative outcomes appear on the criminal-defense results page.

Continuance Without a Finding

Under Massachusetts law, a continuance without a finding is neither a conviction nor a guilty finding. The defendant admits to sufficient facts. The judge then continues the case with conditions. The court dismisses the charge if the defendant completes the continuance successfully.

Other legal systems have their own definitions of a conviction. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(A), a qualifying Massachusetts CWOF is a conviction for federal immigration purposes. Massachusetts counts an OUI CWOF as a prior offense in a later OUI proceeding. Professional licensing authorities apply their own reporting and disciplinary rules.

The judge conducts a probation surrender hearing when the probation department alleges a violation. The judge may continue or modify the conditions or extend the continuance. The judge may also terminate the continuance, enter a guilty finding, and impose sentence. The page on CWOFs, pretrial probation, and diversion explains how the three dispositions differ.

Pretrial Probation and Diversion

Pretrial probation under M.G.L. c. 276, § 87 does not require an admission to sufficient facts or create a guilty finding. The court dismisses the case when the defendant completes the conditions. A person who completes a diversion program may also obtain a dismissal when the person and the charge satisfy the governing requirements.

Pretrial probation and diversion do not resolve every record or disclosure question. A later dismissal does not erase a CORI entry created at arraignment. A school, professional regulator, employer, or immigration authority may ask a question that requires disclosure or separate legal review. The absence of an admission or guilty finding does not answer every collateral-consequence question.

A Conviction

A guilty plea, guilty verdict, or other qualifying guilty finding creates a conviction and permits the judge to impose the sentence authorized for the offense. The conviction remains on CORI unless the person later obtains sealing or expungement.

An eligible conviction may qualify for sealing under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A after the applicable waiting period. Sealing does not change the original disposition, erase an independently maintained federal record, restore firearms eligibility, or eliminate an immigration consequence.

Professional Licensing, Immigration, and Education

A person charged with a crime may have to report or disclose the charge before the case ends. Each licensing authority defines its own reportable event, deadline, and disclosure question.

For example, S.J.C. Rule 4:01, § 12(8) requires a Massachusetts lawyer to notify bar counsel within ten days of a conviction. Section 12(1) defines conviction to include an admission to sufficient facts. A criminal charge alone does not create the duty to notify bar counsel. FINRA asks about specified criminal charges when filed, while other boards may ask about charges at renewal or require notice on a different schedule.

A pre-arraignment result prevents a CORI entry from the complaint application, but the accused person may still need to disclose the matter on some licensing forms. Counsel must read the exact question and apply the rule governing the particular profession. The criminal-defense page for licensed professionals and the licensed-professional FAQs address the rules for each profession.

Federal immigration law also contains its own definition of conviction. Under federal immigration law, an admission may have a different effect than it has under Massachusetts law. Sealing a Massachusetts record does not eliminate the federal immigration consequences of the disposition. A noncitizen should review the immigration consequences of Massachusetts criminal charges before entering a plea or admission.

Schools and universities may maintain disciplinary records and ask about conduct, arrests, charges, or dispositions under their own policies. The page on criminal defense for college and university students addresses the criminal case and the separate school proceeding.

Sealing and Expungement

Sealing restricts who may access an eligible Massachusetts criminal record. Sealing does not destroy the record. Expungement permanently erases or destroys a narrower category of covered records maintained by Massachusetts courts, criminal-justice agencies, and state, county, or municipal agencies.

Under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A, a person submits a written request to the Commissioner of Probation after the applicable waiting period. The Commissioner seals an eligible adult conviction when the applicant satisfies the statutory requirements. The principal waiting periods are three years for a misdemeanor and seven years for a felony, including any period of incarceration or custody. Other eligibility requirements and offense-specific restrictions also apply.

M.G.L. c. 276, § 100C governs specified non-conviction dispositions. A not-guilty finding, grand-jury no bill, or judicial finding of no probable cause must be sealed unless the defendant objects. Sealing after a dismissal or nolle prosequi requires a petition. The judge may seal the record when substantial justice would best be served. Section 100C sets no three-year or seven-year waiting period for the dispositions that it covers.

Expungement under M.G.L. c. 276, §§ 100E to 100U applies only when the record and petitioner satisfy the governing statutory requirements. Massachusetts also permits expungement on separate grounds involving specified errors, fraud, identity misuse, or conduct that is no longer criminal. An expungement order does not necessarily remove information independently maintained by the FBI, a private background-screening company, a school, a licensing authority, or a news organization.

The consumer guide to sealing and expungement explains the available procedures. The Massachusetts sealing and expungement standards page provides the statutory eligibility rules, waiting periods, exclusions, and federal-record considerations. The CORI sealing and expungement FAQ answers common questions about the filing process and the effect of an order.

Criminal Records and Outcomes Resources

• Who Sees a Massachusetts Criminal Record explains CORI access levels and the information different requesters may receive.
• Sealing and Expunging a Massachusetts Criminal Record is the main consumer guide to conviction sealing, non-conviction sealing, and expungement.
• Massachusetts Sealing and Expungement Standards provides the detailed statutory requirements and exclusions.
• Expunging or Sealing a Federal Criminal Record distinguishes a Massachusetts record from an FBI record and a federal criminal case.
• CWOF, Pretrial Probation, and Diversion in Massachusetts Criminal Law compares dispositions that may end in dismissal but require different admissions and have different consequences.
• Accord and Satisfaction in Massachusetts Criminal Cases explains when a judge can dismiss a misdemeanor under G.L. c. 276, § 55 after the alleged victim acknowledges in court that they have received satisfaction for the injury.
• Eastern Massachusetts Criminal Defense for Licensed Professionals addresses charge and conviction reporting by profession.
• How Massachusetts Criminal Cases May Be Dismissed or Stopped Before Trial explains why a non-conviction result differs from a case stopped before arraignment.
• Disclosing a Criminal Record on a Massachusetts Firearms License Application covers what a license to carry or firearm identification card application requires, which prior cases disqualify an applicant, and how a sealed record affects the application.
• Global Entry, NEXUS, and TSA PreCheck After an Arrest or OUI in Massachusetts explains when U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration can deny or end a trusted traveler membership after an arrest.

Attorney Serpa reviews the charge, procedural stage, potential disposition, and collateral consequences before advising the client about a proposed resolution. To discuss a Massachusetts criminal case or an existing criminal record, contact Serpa Law Office for a free consultation. The Boston office is at 20 Park Plaza, Suite 400A. The Quincy Office is at 500 Victory Road, Suite 400A.

The office can be reached at 617.936.0201.