Thursday, January 10, 2008

CORI: Juveniles Must Be Included in the Executive Order


It is critical that Governor Patrick doesn't leave out the thousands of juveniles that are negatively harmed by current CORI practices. Please Call Governor Patrick and tell him it is CRITICAL that the following language be included in the Executive Order:

"Only summer camps shall receive juvenile court activity record information records; when juvenile court activity record information is disseminated, employers shall receive court activity records of juveniles limited to cases which contain adjudications of delinquency; all other adjudicatory dispositions of juveniles shall not be disclosed."

Call the Governor at 617.725.4005 or email him at the following link:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_contact_us.

Lisa Thurau-Gray states:

Juvenile records are released to housing authorities, private enterprises—from banks to fast food restaurants, hospitals (sometimes 12 years later), day care centers, and to the summer youth employment programs. Youth with records are denied entry to a panoply of training programs—just by dint of having a record.

Even juvenile records which disclose a youth's case has been dismissed or the youth has been acquitted are used to justify not hiring youth. The release of this information to employers represents the trumping of the arrest information over the disposition of the juvenile judge—an employer sees the charge and assumes there is danger. This dissemination of data vitiates the whole point of the court proceeding by making the fact of the arrest the most salient piece of information.

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''Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


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Union of Minority Neighborhoods

83 Highland St
Roxbury, Ma 02119
617-521-4111

2 Harris Ave
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-522-3349

www.unionofminorityneighborhoods.org

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