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When I was an active volunteer in my parish, I had to make full one out fifty-fifty though I had no reasonable expectation of contact with children. I've too had to fill out forms for jobs, even those I was applying for.

What is a CORI?

"Massachusetts state courts keep records of what happens in every criminal case. These records are chosen CORI - Criminal Offender Record Information." (MassLegalHelp.com)

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A CORI is simply a course that gives an employer or other entity permission to pull any criminal record yous may accept.

Why do employers and non-profits request one?

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As a former altar server at my local church, I was required to fill out a CORI. Fifty-fifty though I had no unsupervised contact with children, *everyone* in my parish was required to fill 1 out. They fifty-fifty made a big testify by having us fill them out after Mass, so anybody could see how they're protecting the children.

Aye, the very priests and administrators who covered upwardly the abuse that is, reportedly, *nevertheless* going on, desire to wave their *mea culpa* for all to see by inconveniencing anybody else.

Does a CORI "catch" everything?

In a give-and-take ... No. A CORi is only useful in finding abort records in ane particular country. If, for instance, you left the state (or the state, for that matter), a CORI bank check would not catch if you committed a crime exterior Massachusetts.

With admission to court dockets and other data, why not just run a quick bank check?

Even though even the online court dockets are incomplete, they can give y'all a snapshot of a person'south interaction with the judicial arrangement.

The courtroom dockets online to crave a bit of the Miss Marple in all of us. Yous will have to enter then name for each courtroom, be it the Superior Court or the Housing Courtroom in a peculiarly expanse or the Municipal Courtroom.

Try it. Enter any name -- heck, you can use mine -- and see what comes up. Even better, put in your own proper noun and see what's out in that location.

Aye, information technology requires work, merely it volition give you a much more than complete picture of the person you wish to hire.

A person'south social media presence would tell you lot more about them than an arrest v years ago for a marijuana roach, correct?

A cursory look at anyone's social media presence, including whatever blogs or comments on news sites -- which are usually linked to either a Facebook or a Twitter business relationship -- will tell you everything y'all want to know about someone. (BTW, I am juliekelleher57 on Reddit, SoundCloud, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. I accept besides posted under julikell and juliethejarhead.)

I worked with a woman named Bobbi. She was constantly complaining nigh how horrible everyone was to her, how she was continually passed over for promotion, how she was given all the "busy work," etc. Every bit far as I know, she had no criminal record. Still, I wouldn't hire her, never.

I ever say: "The only difference between people in jail and people not in jail that the people in jail got caught."

Why is a CORI overly intrusive?

My master complaint: a CORI requests *arrest* recordss, while ignoring the results of the arrest. Once can be arrested and never exist indicted. Past asking for arrests just, a CORI may violate the presumption of innocence.

People who, for any reason, refuse to fill out a CORI may be hiding something. Just, more likely, they consider CORIs an invasion of privacy and a violation of the well-honored "presumption of innocence."

And don't tell me, "If you accept aught to hide, so you don't have a trouble with it." One: nosotros all take something to hide. I've but known of two adults who take had nothing to hide. My female parent, who died in 2004, and my father, who died in 2009. And then I think I'k safe to say that pretty much everyone has something to hide.

That'south non the point.

In the end, CORIs are overly intrusive, barely effective, and well-nigh unnecessary in our digital age.

Disclaimer: I am not an chaser. Practise non construe this OPINION article as legal advice. Please consult an attorney for any legal questions.

~ The End ~

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