Press Release  Probation Sealing Wait Time Reduced

Boston, MA — The Massachusetts Probation Service has reduced the wait time for individuals seeking to seal their criminal records to assist those with minor offenses find employment.

The wait time, which used to be more than three months, is now down to one day for records sealed by a judge and processed by Probation (100 C sealings), and a three-day turn around for records sealed by Probation’s Sealing Unit (100 A & 100 B petitions).

This unit is one of two departments that are under the umbrella of the agency’s Records Unit which also includes the CIMG (Central Identity Management Group). The CIMG analyzes, updates, and maintains data contained in all court-related databases governed by the Commissioner of Probation.  The Sealing Unit is sealing from 3,000 to 5,000 cases per month.

“The goal is to help individuals with past minor indiscretions have a better opportunity to gain employment,” said Thomas Capasso, Probation Records Unit Director. “Because we anticipate the demand for sealing records will continue to increase, a one-day turn around might not always be the norm. Therefore, it is our goal to keep the wait time to under a month which will still benefit those seeking work.”

This new wait time is a marked improvement from a year ago when the turn around time was more than three months, according to Capasso. He attributes the decreased wait time to the hard work of the Records Unit staff and some reorganization of job duties which allows Sealing Unit staff time to focus solely on sealing petitions. Last March, the Records Unit began tracking sealings by the number of cases sealed.

The number of petitions for sealing records increased nearly 60 percent in the past five years due to the passing of the CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) Reform which rolled back the time frames for sealing of convictions from 15 to 10 years for felonies and misdemeanors from 10 to five years. The increase in petitions was attributed to the focus of CORI reform on the reintegration of people with criminal records into the workforce.

Sealings: By the Numbers

January – 3,320

December – 4,398

November – 3,796

October – 4,444

September – 4,880

August – 4,188

July – 3,329

June – 5,138

May – 4,732

April – 5,073

March – 5,743

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