The Project engages in public policy and legislative advocacy, systemic impact litigation, and appellate advocacy that includes amicus briefs. The Project’s successful outcomes and ongoing work are highlighted below.
Landmark Legal Victories
Overturning adverse case law on sealing. In 2014, in Commonwealth v. Pon, the Supreme Judicial Court overruled decades of old case law and replaced a harsh and unreasonably high burden of proof for sealing of records with a “good cause” standard. The new standard allows countless people to seal their records, get jobs, support their children, and live productive lives without the lifetime stigma of CORI. The SJC also sanctioned the use of a less burdensome one-hearing process for sealing records.
In the Matter of an Impounded Case, 493 Mass. 470 (2024), the SJC case stopped the Commissioner of Probation from treating youthful offender juvenile court offenses the same as adult criminal cases. This practice had caused children with these cases to have never sealable records for a lifetime in some instances and/or longer sealing waiting periods.
In 2018, Massachusetts enacted its first expungement law, but many judges refused to grant expungements. In Commonwealth v. K.W., 490 Mass. 619 (2022), the Project appealed a judge’s denial of an expungement petition. The SJC solved the problem of erroneous denials of expungement petitions by creating a legal presumption in favor of expungement whenever a petition meets threshold eligibility criteria for expungement.
In 2011, GBLS successfully appealed the Quincy Court’s denial of a sealing petition without a hearing, which led to the court changing its systemic practice of denying petitions without a hearing.
Legislative-Public Policy Victories
Major criminal justice reform. Drafted provisions of the criminal reform bill with Senator Brownsberger in 2018 that reduced sealing waiting periods, enacted the first Massachusetts laws to permit expungement of juvenile and criminal cases, redefined CORI to exclude most juvenile offenses, and made numerous other changes in the law to reduce or prevent the devastating consequences of criminal legal system involvement.
Drafted provisions with Rep. Chynah Tyler, enacted in 2022, that added a section to the expungement law removing judicial discretion to deny expungement of decriminalized marijuana cases. The legislation also broadened the statute to include distribution charges arising out of the same case because overcharging for marijuana possession was a common practice.
No cost calls. At the request of numerous impacted community members and organizations, GBLS and other groups worked on legislation enacted in 2022 that made phone calls free in prisons and jails. This eliminated past unconscionable phone rates and made it less burdensome for low-income families, including children, to stay in touch with their loved ones, which leads to better outcomes and reduced recidivism for those later released from incarceration.
BMC standing order. Successfully advocated that the Boston Municipal Court (BMC) issue Standing Order 1-09, which permits judges in one division of the BMC to seal cases in the other seven divisions of the BMC, eliminating the hardship for people who would otherwise have to travel to many courthouses to seal their criminal records.
Successfully advocated for CORI legislative reform with other groups in 2010. GBLS staff testified at the State House as part of a labor union panel (AFL-CIO and SEIU). The Project advocated for provisions that were included in the final legislation. As a result, waiting periods to seal are shorter, and cases dismissed after probation are no longer treated like convictions and can be sealed by a judge without a waiting period.
Successfully advocated that the Roxbury Division of the BMC schedule all newly-filed CORI sealing petitions once per month on the same day and hold a single hearing process instead of a two-hearing process. This permits GBLS to represent the majority of people sealing records in the Roxbury Division. Replacing the two hearing process also made the record sealing less burdensome for clients.
Community Support and Ongoing Efforts
All of our major campaigns and efforts arise primarily from ideas and problems voiced by clients and the communities we serve.
Community Engagement
GBLS provides community legal education and walk-in CORI clinics at community venues, not limited to the Urban League, CultivatED, health centers, Roxbury Community College, the Roxbury courthouse, and other locations.
Criminal records often trap people in poverty, but the current criminal record sealing process is cumbersome, backlogged, and ineffective. Less than 15 % of those eligible to seal records do so. GBLS, along with a handful of impacted community members and organizations, started a coalition to automate the record sealing process, which has grown to become the very large Clean Slate Coalition. GBLS worked with Senator Cindy Friedman to draft the legislation and is in a leadership role in the coalition working to pass the legislation.
Families in the communities we serve have long advocated to bring home loved ones who have languished in prison for decades. Prisons contain high numbers of women and others who have suffered abuse and other trauma. Pauline Quirion co-chaired the MBA Clemency Task Force, which issued a report calling for an overhaul of clemency guidelines in 2021 because grants of clemency had become a rarity. Massachusetts had the dubious distinction at that time of the highest number of elders languishing in prison. In 2023, the MBA drafted proposed guidelines presented to the new Governor. The Governor issued what are perhaps the best clemency guidelines in the country. Pardons that remove most collateral consequences fill in gaps in the sealing law because some offenses can never be sealed, and some employers and entities have access to sealed records, which works an injustice in some instances.