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Clean Slate Policy Information for Lawmakers
Drafting legislation that can gain bipartisan support is often challenging enough. It becomes harder when lawmakers want to ensure the law will be impactful and can be implemented appropriately. That's where we come in. The Clean Slate Initiative is here to help!
State-based efforts rely on partnering with:
Through these partnerships, we identify technical solutions to streamline a state’s existing petition-based record clearance processes.
Clean Slate efforts are rooted in a belief that people should not face unnecessary and extra-judicial punishments long after they have been arrested or completed a court-imposed sentence, and an important piece of the work is centering directly impacted people's lived experiences to inform Clean Slate policies.
Records relief offers people a pathway to redemption by opening access to meaningful employment, housing, and education opportunities that allow them to provide for themselves and their families.
First
Clean Slate legislation is not cookie cutter policy. Successful Clean Slate legislation will mean the government initiates and completes the record sealing process by leveraging technology to identify eligible records, notify relevant record-keeping agencies about which records are eligible, and ensure those records are updated to reflect clearance.
When CSI or our coalitions engage with state lawmakers, we seek to understand your current record clearance laws, processes, data systems, and flow of information across agencies – especially between the courts (judicial branch) and the criminal record repository (often housed under the state police). This information is critical for designing technically feasible and impactful policies.
Second
During the legislative drafting process, Clean Slate coalitions and legislative champions should engage state agencies for continuous feedback on implementability. For example, each eligibility criteria must correspond to some kind of data field to minimize manual work, which can create delays in the sealing process. Leadership and staff at the state police and administrative office of courts, and also legal service providers in the state working on petition-based record sealing, can provide valuable insight on what is currently tracked consistently. Even with gathering this intel and feedback, challenges may still exist in moving to an automated system.
Fortunately, The Clean Slate Initiative can connect you with technical experts who help develop systems that streamline and automate the expungement process.
Third
A potential legislative champion should consider the core components of Clean Slate legislation. Generally, Clean Slate legislation should:
- Automate the record sealing process for eligible offenses. Automation must be applied retroactively and for all new records going forward;
- When possible, expand the number and types of offenses eligible for record sealing under the petition-based process with the goal of automating as many offenses as possible;
- Consider decreasing the period an individual must wait to benefit from record sealing; and,
- Discover ways to eliminate or minimize any cap on the number of offenses an individual can have sealed.
Lastly
We want legislative champions to be successful! We know that Clean Slate policies can offer real second chances by removing barriers to housing, employment, and education for those impacted by the collateral consequences of a record.
Please contact Aditi Sherikar, Public Policy Director, at programs@cleanslateinitiative.org for more information.
Support Clean Slate
Your voice and action matter. Share your story to amplify the importance of second chances, or make a donation to help expand access to automated record sealing and opportunity for millions.
