WHO BENEFITS FROM AUTOMATIC RECORD RELIEF IN CALIFORNIA?
Report By: Alissa Skog, Karla Betel Palos Castellanos, Johanna Lacoe, and Molly Pickard of the California Policy Lab at the University of California, Berkeley
With Funding From: The Clean Slate Initiative
California began implementing automatic record relief in July 2022. A new report from California Policy Lab report uses individual-level data from the California Department of Justice to estimate the number of Californians who likely benefit from the state's automatic record relief laws, including those that have all of their records relieved and receive a Clean Slate. Learn more in the full report.
About the Report
An estimated eight million Californians have a record and the consequences from having a record can persist even after their contact with the system is complete. A record can have profound and lasting impacts on people, affecting key areas of their life such as employment, parental rights, stable housing, access to safety-net benefits, and voting. To address these “follow-on” punishments, the California legislature has enacted the most comprehensive automatic record relief laws in the country. Under these laws, all non-convictions (arrests that do not lead to a conviction), most misdemeanor convictions, and many low-level felony convictions are eligible for automatic relief after people complete their sentences and specified waiting periods. Additionally, many people with more serious felony convictions can petition the courts to have their records relieved. California began implementing automatic record relief in July 2022, after several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report uses individual-level data from the California Department of Justice to estimate the number of Californians who likely benefit from these automatic record relief laws, including those that have all of their records relieved and receive a “Clean Slate” — meaning they have no remaining record. The report also estimate the share who are likely to maintain a Clean Slate over the following five years.
Key Findings
Nearly 90% of Californians with a conviction between 2010 and 2021 are estimated to be eligible for automatic record relief.
Among these, a significant proportion (nearly 70%) are eligible to achieve a full “Clean Slate,” meaning all of their records are relieved. Another 14% of individuals would become eligible once they completed their sentences and waiting periods, while 17% would remain ineligible due to convictions that did not qualify for automatic relief.
Among those with ineligible records, 7% had ineligible convictions from before 2010, even though their more recent records might have qualified.
77% of people with eligible records are eligible to receive a full Clean Slate, with the rate being highest (87%) for those with only misdemeanor convictions.
Misdemeanor driving under the influence (DUI) convictions are the most common records eligible for relief, accounting for more than 30% of eligible records.
Despite the widespread eligibility, Black Californians are underrepresented among those who will receive a full Clean Slate as a result of automatic record relief.
Black Californians are overrepresented among those who are ineligible for automatic record relief. While Black people comprise 13% of those with convictions between 2010–21, they make up 24% of people who are only eligible for relief through a more onerous petition-based process, which prior research has demonstrated often has low take-up rates.
Women disproportionately benefit from Clean Slate in California.
Nearly 30% of women are eligible for a Clean Slate, while they make up only 13% of the population with convictions between 2010-2021.
Most individuals who receive a Clean Slate are likely to maintain it for at least five years.
Using a subset of the data, the researchers estimate that most people (72%) who likely receive a Clean Slate will maintain it (not have future contact with the justice system) for at least five years after their record is automatically relieved.
Only a small fraction, less than 2%, are expected to be convicted of a new offense that would disqualify them from automatic relief in the future.