Pennsylvania recently amended its Criminal History Record Information Act (CHRIA). The amendments to CHRIA will provide victims of crimes and their legal representatives access to criminal investigative records for the purposes of litigating a potential, or ongoing, civil suit in Pennsylvania. For decades, CHRIA has effectively prevented civil attorneys from obtaining necessary and important records related to victims of crimes. With these amendments, CHRIA will now provide litigators with an important investigative tool, while maintaining the integrity of the criminal investigations and prosecutions. In enacting these important amendments, the legislature has provided a specific statutory process for requesting criminal records related to an ongoing or potential civil action.

An All Too Familiar Fight With CHRIA

Our first experience with CHRIA convinced me it was not helping victims. Several years ago, we were investigating a new case. Our client was struck by a drunk driver when she was stopped at a red light in her car. While the drunk driver walked away from the accident unscathed, my client suffered catastrophic and life-changing injuries as a result of the rear-end crash.