August 22, 2024
Formerly incarcerated people carry the burden of a criminal record that can prevent them from working, volunteering at their children’s school, obtaining housing, and more. The Sentencing Project states, “Understanding that a criminal record can be a lifelong barrier to economic security and mobility—with adverse effects on families, communities, and our entire economy—we must craft policies to ensure that Americans with criminal records have a fair shot at a decent life.”
In 2004 Sheena Meade, CEO of the nonprofit Clean Slate Initiative (CSI), was arrested for a bad check of $87, which gave her a criminal record that caused difficulty afterward for housing options, college, and work opportunities. She decided to help states to create legislation that allows automatic record clearance. Automatic record clearance policies have paved the way for “more than 14 million people to receive full record clearance in the 12 states that have passed legislation which meet The Clean Slate Initiative’s policy minimums.” CSI is also lobbying to create the same laws at the federal level.
According to data from the CSI, Pennsylvania was the first state to approve a clean slate law that met the criteria in 2018. Then Utah and New Jersey joined the group in 2019; Michigan and Connecticut in 2020; Delaware and Virginia in 2021; Oklahoma, Colorado, and California in 2022; and Minnesota and New York in 2023. CSI is building support efforts in other states across the country.
Clean slate laws allow the automatic clearance of a criminal record after a determined number of years from the conviction for those who have not been arrested again. CSI advocates for this to be automatic, whereas in other states the person needs to file a petition in court.
Missouri presented legislation to grant automatic record clearance this year. The bipartisan law would grant “more than a half-million Missourians automatic expungement of eligible arrest and conviction records.” Maryland also tried adopting a clean slate act.
Most states do not have a clean slate act, but some are providing formerly incarcerated people a second chance through expungement, a process allowed under the law to remove arrests, charges, and convictions from one’s record. But the petitioner must file a request in court.
The Cook County’s Expungement Center in Illinois will start helping residents struggling with the paperwork and filing for an expungement of their criminal records. Clerk Iris Martinez said, “By helping those eligible complete their files with all the necessary documentation and streamlining the processes, we will see a much-needed improvement in the number of expungements granted in Cook County.”
Since the Second Chance Act passage in 2008, three-year reincarceration rates have decreased by 23% nationally.
How is your state helping those with criminal records and reducing recidivism? Share your experiences with us. For more information, contact knowledge@ncsc.org or call 800-616-6164. Follow the National Center for State Courts on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Vimeo. For more Trending Topics posts, visit ncsc.org/trendingtopics and subscribe to the LinkedIn newsletter.