New Data Model Sheds Light on the Depth of America's Arrest and Conviction Records Crisis
The Clean Slate Initiative’s Data Dashboard Allows Lawmakers to Scale the Impact of Second Chance Legislation
ORLANDO, FL - In a breakthrough for public policy creation, a new data model unveiled by The Clean Slate Initiative (CSI) offers detailed insights into the crisis of arrest and conviction records in America. The data model powers The CSI Data Dashboard, which presents data visualizations and population estimates for people in the U.S. impacted by arrest and conviction records, with data further broken down by race, ethnicity, sex, and type of record within each state and over time. The CSI Data Dashboard is available at cleanslateinitiative.org/data.
“In the 30 years since Congress passed the 1994 Crime Bill, millions of people have been caught in the ever-widening net of the criminal legal system,” said Sheena Meade, CEO of The Clean Slate Initiative. "As a result, one in three adults in our country are held back from reaching their full potential because of some kind of record. The CSI Data Dashboard empowers policymakers to craft impactful automatic record clearance legislation, paving the way for data-driven solutions to create transformational change in millions of people’s lives and address racial inequities created by decades of overcriminalization.”
Since 2018, twelve (12) states have passed legislation that meets The Clean Slate Initiative’s policy minimums. These laws replace burdensome and expensive petition-based record clearance processes with a streamlined system that automatically clears eligible records after people complete their sentences and remain crime-free for a specified period of time. Around 14 million people are in line to receive full record clearance in the 12 states that have passed Clean Slate laws.
Estimating how many people would benefit from Clean Slate legislation presents multiple challenges for lawmakers, such as incomplete or erroneous administrative data, variances in race and ethnicity, and dynamic factors, including re-arrest, reconviction, and peoples’ movement between states.
“It’s essential for public policy to be founded on good data,” said Dr. Laura Chavez, director of research and data at The Clean Slate Initiative. “The CSI Data Dashboard shows how many people will benefit from a second chance if certain types and numbers of records are eligible for clearance under legislative proposals. As a result, lawmakers can appropriately craft policies, ensuring everyone who has earned a second chance can receive it.”
Samuel Sinyangwe, data scientist for The Clean Slate Initiative, led the creation of The CSI Data Dashboard and the data model that powers it. The model’s Methodology Document is available here.
Earlier this year, The Clean Slate Initiative released fact sheets demonstrating proposed legislation's impact in four states - Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, and Missouri. The fact sheets use CSI’s data model to quantify the impact of the specific legislation put forward to each state’s legislature. The CSI Data Dashboard offers even greater detail about who would benefit from record clearance policies with varying eligibility criteria.
“Everyone can likely think of someone close to them with some kind of record. It may be a family member, a friend, or a neighbor, but it’s likely someone they care deeply for,” said Sheena Meade. “We want the people we care for to have the opportunity to create a better life for themselves and those who depend, not be held back long after having paid their debt to society. We want them to have a fair shot at redemption. We look forward to working with lawmakers throughout the country and using The CSI Data Dashboard to ensure automatic record clearance reaches the millions of people who have earned a meaningful second chance.”
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The Clean Slate Initiative is a non-profit organization that engages bipartisan support to pass and implement laws that automatically clear eligible records for people who have completed their sentence and remained crime-free and expand who is eligible for clearance. The organization works to build a future where people will no longer be defined by their records and have a fair opportunity to work, get an education, and achieve their full potential.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE MODEL AND ITS ESTIMATES
An FAQ about The CSI Data Dashboard and the model’s methodology is available here.
Altogether, The CSI Data Dashboard estimates that over 71 million people in America had a state conviction or non-conviction record in 2019, including 6 million people in prison, jail, or on state supervision that year.
Another 21 million people had felony convictions but were not incarcerated or on state supervision at the time, including more than 15 million people whose felony convictions were non-violent.
Around 46 million people had misdemeanor convictions. Of those, more than 32 million had no felonies on their record.
Over 10 million people had a non-conviction from a prior arrest but no convictions.
