By Alonzo Harvey, Paper Prisons Expert Advisor As a formerly incarcerated advocate and member of the Paper Prisons team, I’ve seen exactly where the justice system fails the people trapped inside it. I’ve worked on Racial Justice Act (RJA) teams, and one truth is clear: incarcerated individuals cannot fight racial… Read more: Appendix A: The RJA Is a Lifeline But Only If People Inside Can Access the Tools to Use It

By Alonzo Harvey and Colleen V. Chien  Examples of Letters received by the Paper Prisons Initiative The Judicial Council of California is proposing, as described in its invitation to comment W26-05, to change Form HC-001, the official Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus used in California courts. Form HC-001 is… Read more: Paper Prisons’ Comment to the Judicial Council of California on Proposed Changes to Form HC-001

By Colleen V. Chien, Founder, Paper Prisons Initiative and Professor, Berkeley Law School One in three adults has a criminal record. As such, one of the most important and unresolved questions in criminal justice policy is whether people can move beyond their past records and re-integrate into society. The evidence… Read more: Paper Prisons’ Digital Juneteenth Pre-Pilot: From (Records) Clearance to Takeoff, What Happens When People Learn They’re Free? (Jan. 15, 2026)

New year, new partnership, with the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office, on “Digital Juneteenth” initiatives. While California’s “Clean Slate” laws automate record expungement, many individuals remain unaware they’ve been cleared. Drawing inspiration from the spirit of Juneteenth—where freedom required awareness to be realized—in 2024, Paper Prisons launched a “Digital… Read more: Advancing “Digital Juneteenth” with the Santa Clara County Public Defender (Jan. 12, 2026)

By Colleen V. Chien, Founder, Paper Prisons Initiative and Professor, Berkeley Law School What do the Supreme Court’s landmark civil rights decisions have in common with the rescue of Healthcare.gov or the delivery of effective digital services during the COVID pandemic? Each transformed the lives of millions of Americans—and each… Read more: Tech Bono (Dec. 18, 2025)

By Audrey Im, Berkeley CS ‘23 grad, Paper Prisons research associate, Shreya Shankar, Berkeley CS PhD candidate The California Racial Justice Act provides a mechanism for defendants (and the convicted) to challenge a charge, conviction, or sentence if it is sought or obtained in a racially disparate manner. Paper Prisons’… Read more: Using New Generative AI Data-Processing Tool, DocETL: A Simple Guide (July 22, 2025)

At least 10M Americans have lost their licenses for reasons unrelated to driving. What is the impact of reforming license suspension practices and restoring licenses to drivers? Using CPS data and a staggered diff-in-diff design, our new working paper suggests an unexpected payoff – measurable increases in state-wide employment when… Read more: New Working Paper on the Impact of Debt-Based License Suspension Reform (April 7, 2025)

By Alivia Dawson, 2nd year undergrad student, Berkeley   The Paper Prisons Initiative recently presented our Racial Justice Act (RJA) tool, forthcoming “Digital Juneteenth” expungement notification campaign with the Santa Clara Public Defender, and how AI tools can be leveraged to increase access to justice, before hundreds of public defenders during… Read more: Technological Developments & Tools in the Criminal Legal System Webinar (April 4, 2025)

Nearly all white defendants were given the chance at parole. Nearly all Black defendants were not SAN DIEGO, Ca. (KPBS) – When Laila Aziz moved back to San Diego, the names on everyone’s lips were Brian Mason and Thabiti Wilson, the younger brothers of people she grew up with. They… Read more: Who gets parole? Investigation reveals stark racial differences in past sentencing of robbery murder cases (March 27, 2025)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS) — On February 5, a coalition of Illinois leaders, advocates, and community members gathered at the Illinois State Capitol Building Rotunda to rally support for the Clean Slate Bill. This legislation aims to modernize the state’s record-sealing system by replacing the outdated petition-based model with an automated system.… Read more: Illinois leaders rally for Clean Slate Bill to modernize record-sealing system (Feb. 5th, 2025)

NORTH CAROLINA (NC Justice Center) -A criminal record often gives rise to significant barriers to gainful employment, affordable housing, family unification and a variety of other essential benefits and opportunities. For assistance in understanding the statutory barriers to opportunities that may arise because of a criminal record, please use the UNC… Read more: 2024 Summary of North Carolina Expunctions (Oct. 7, 2024)

BERKELEY, Ca. (Berkeley Law) – Berkeley Law’s Paper Prisons Initiative, led by Professor Colleen V. Chien, recently unveiled an innovative database aimed at helping defendants and people convicted of crimes challenge a charge, conviction, or sentence under the California Racial Justice Act (RJA).  The initiative’s Racial Justice Act Tool, which is currently in beta… Read more: Exploring the Promise of the Racial Justice Act Tool (Aug. 12, 2024)

On March 27, 2023, the California Committee on the Revision of the Penal Code held a hearing on the California Racial Justice Act (CRJA) (recording here*, RJA portion starts at 52:02). Paper Prisons founder, Professor Colleen Chien testified before the committee about the data infrastructure supporting implementation of the CRJA… Read more: Paper Prisons’ Testimony at California Penal Committee Hearing on CA Racial Justice Act (July 30, 2024)

SAN DIEGO, Ca. (CrimProf BlogEditor) – The CrimProf Blog, edited by Professor Kevin Cole of the University of San Diego School of Law, highlights “The Paper Prisons Racial Justice Act Data Tool“. Link to Article here.

NEW YORK (Legal Action Center)- After years of stalwart advocacy with a diverse coalition of partners from across New York State, the Clean Slate Act has been signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul. Clean Slate NY will help New Yorkers move on with their lives by automatically sealing misdemeanor convictions after three years… Read more: In New York, a Conviction Record Can Mean a Lifetime of Blocked Opportunity (July 29, 2024)

BERKELEY, Ca. (Berkeley Law) – In this episode, host Gwyneth Shaw talks with Professor Colleen Chien ’02, a cross-disciplinary scholar whose research spans innovation, intellectual property, and the criminal justice system. She’s just joined the Berkeley Law faculty — the ninth hire for the school this year.  Chien is a Berkeley Law… Read more: Podcast: Professor Colleen Chien on Innovation, Equity, and Racial Justice (July 27, 2024)

HARTFORD, Co. (WSHU) – In 2021, Connecticut passed the “Clean Slate” law to erase conviction records for minor offenses. At the time, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said it would change the lives of people who had been denied jobs, housing and education because of their criminal record. Three years later, the… Read more: CT promised to erase the criminal records of 130,000 people. 18 months later, only 10% have been (July 26, 2024)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Maryland Matters) – With a stroke of his pen, Gov. Wes Moore last month pardoned 175,000 individuals for prior cannabis offenses from his office in Annapolis, the Sailing Capital of the United States. His executive action will help many Marylanders with prior convictions navigate the criminal justice system’s uncharted waters. In 2022,… Read more: Setting sail for justice: Clean Slate policy straight ahead (July 25, 2024)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (NPR) – Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is pardoning 175,000 people who have low-level convictions related to marijuana, the governor announced Monday. To date, it is one of the most expansive absolutions by a state for this type of crime. “The barriers to everything from employment to education to the ability… Read more: Some say Maryland’s mass marijuana pardons don’t go far enough (June 19, 2024)

NORTH CAROLINA (NC Newsline) The North Carolina House Judiciary 2 Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would repeal automatic expungements of “not guilty” or “dismissed” charges from criminal records. The committee approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 565 on a voice vote. As NC Newsline previously reported, the original bill… Read more: NC Senate panel okays bill to roll back automatic expungements of ‘not guilty,’ ‘dismissed’ charges (May 22, 2024)