Criminal Records reform effective May 4th, 2012

The CORI reform legislation from 2010 has another key deadline next week. Major changes go into effect that will affect people with criminal records, and most importantly, employers. Jackson Lewis has written a 15 page summary that focuses on the changing requirements for employers. The requirements include written policies, when and how you can use a CORI record in hiring, obligations to job applicants and recordkeeping, dissemination and destruction requirements. Another review of the changes in a table form has been compiled by the ACLU of Massachusetts. After the changes go into effect, people with CORI records will no longer have to request their records be sealed. The law will now prohibit the dissemination for convictions after a specific waiting period. The department that oversees the criminal records is now called the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS). Their website has links for Implementing CORI Reform, proposed regulations, and forms, applications and model policies. The new system of criminal records, iCORI, won't be available until after May 7th, according to the department. All requests will be managed online. For more information about criminal records, don't forget our Law About Criminal Records page.

eBook of Juvenile Court rules and standing orders

We have completed our eighth eBook of court rules for your smart phones and tablets. Our page of instructions walks you through the process of installing a reader app, then downloading the books. After they are downloaded to your device, you will have instant access to the rules and the Guide to Evidence, complete with search capabilities, note taking and highlighting. To date the rules have been downloaded nearly 1100 times. Be part of the mobile revolution. Take the law in your own hands! Feel free to contact us with questions or suggested new titles.

In honor of Earth Day...

We thought we might highlight some of our topical pages today. If you have trouble with a tree, see our page on Neighbors and Trees. Celebrate at the beach and visit our Beach and Shoreline access page. We also have a page on Recreational Hunting and Fishing! And if you want to leave your car behind today, see our page on Bicycles. For the rest of our Law About topics, see our full list here.

Land Court Rules Ebook

The Massachusetts Land Court Rules ebook is now available for no charge from our ebooks page. This new title is the most extensive yet, including not just the Rules, but also Land Court Standing Orders, the Manual of Instructions and the Guidelines on Registered Land.

Probate Court posts Uniform Probate Code website

The Massachusetts Probate Court has posted a variety of resources on a single page that may be useful to anyone addressing the changes to the probate code in Massachusetts. The page includes links to forms, fee schedule, a new MUPC Procedural Guide, the transitional standing order and links to the statutes as well. In addition it has as a list of newspapers for informal publication, priority of appointment checklist, an heirs chart, settlement & distribution chart, list of local experts for MUPC.
Don't forget our page on Probate Law as well.

Chat is back up and running

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Chat Service down at this point

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New cases of note

From the federal district court, Judge Wolfe approves a settlement involving DOC and the isolation of mentally ill prisoners : Disability Law Center v. DOC
From the SJC :
Breastfeeding mother should have more time for exam in Currier v. National Board of Medical Examiners.
Change of venue for a juvenile trial in juvenile court upheld in Com. v. Tobias.
Three cases on Firearms :
From the Federal district court, Immigrants with lawful permanent resident status cannot be deprived of right to gun license in Fletcher v. Haas.
Conviction of unlawful possession of firearm upheld, and burden of proof rests with defendant for affirmative defense in Com v. Grouse
Antique firearm possession defense required vacation of conviction in Com. v. Jefferson

Testimonial and Non-testimonial Evidence

We've added a new page on the Law About Testimonial and Non-Testimonial Evidence in Criminal Cases. This page is designed to get you started on your research on the topic, with links to both cases and print sources.

Strip Searches decision from Supreme Court

The country is abuzz with the recent Supreme Court case Florence v. Burlington. (It's actually Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County or Burlington, but...) The decision makes it legal to perform strip searches when any person is taken into custody, regardless of the circumstances.
In Massachusetts, the standard remains that probable cause must be present before strip searches (removing all clothing) and visual body cavity searches can be conducted. Cases cited include Com. v. Prophete, Com. v. Thomas, and Com. v. Ramirez.
Check our page on Criminal Law, and don't forget to download the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence eBook to your phone or tablet.