Washington, D.C. — Earlier this week, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, the Michigan Senate passed legislation that positions Michigan to become the third state with a clean slate automated record-clearing law on the books. Michigan’s clean slate package is historic in that it makes Michigan the first state to automatically clear qualifying felonies. The full package,… Continue reading Michigan Becomes Latest State To Pass Clean Slate Legislation, First To Include Felonies

The House of Representatives voted 91-56 for final passage Thursday night of a “clean slate” bill, sending to a publicly noncommittal governor a measure that would automatically erase certain criminal convictions from a person’s record if they go seven or 10 years without committing another crime. “This bill today is not about whether someone should… Continue reading Bill that would erase certain criminal convictions from records passes in CT House

The State Senate Codes Committee voted in favor of the Clean Slate Act Wednesday, moving the bill forward for a vote in the full body. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assmeblymember Catalina Cruz, would establish a two-step process to automatically sealing and later automatically expunge old conviction records once a person has… Continue reading Clean Slate Act inches closer to approval with vote in Senate committee

For decades, America’s policy has been to maximize harsh prison sentences in order to deter crime. These policies, rather than producing a freer and more prosperous society, instead resulted in the incarceration of a staggering amount of people and burdened even more with lifelong records.  Today, nearly 1 in 3 Americans have some sort of… Continue reading Serving Life Sentences in Paper Prisons

Democratic lawmakers in New York this week are unveiling a push for the passage of a measure that would expunge or seal some criminal convictions.  The measure is known as a “clean slate” bill that is meant to lessen the impact of criminal convictions on a person once their sentence is completed.  The bill would cover both… Continue reading Lawmakers, advocates to call for “clean slate” bill

Professor Colleen V. Chien of Santa Clara University has published a major empirical study in the Michigan Law Review that examines the gap between eligibility for and actual delivery of relief from contact with the criminal justice system, a construct she calls the “second chance gap.” (The term is defined with examples here.) Last week, Chien led a team… Continue reading Study measures gap between availability and delivery of “second chance” relief

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Monday that would expand the criteria for expungements related to traffic offenses, marijuana convictions and minor crimes, even making some offenses eligible for automatic expungement. Whitmer signed the seven-bill “Clean Slate” package alongside Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Attorney General Dana Nessel, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the bills’ sponsors. House… Continue reading Whitmer signs ‘Clean Slate’ legislation aiming to expand expungement opportunities

From 2013 to June 2017, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s New York Field Office determined that about 47 percent of detainees designated as “low risk” should be released while they waited for their immigration cases to be resolved, according to FOIA data obtained by the New York Civil Liberties Union. But something changed in the… Continue reading How Automation Bias Encourages the Use of Flawed Algorithms