{"id":662,"date":"2022-12-12T14:16:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T14:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/?p=662"},"modified":"2024-10-10T18:38:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T18:38:37","slug":"missouri-republicans-file-bills-to-automatically-expunge-non-violent-offenses-from-criminal-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/all\/news\/missouri-republicans-file-bills-to-automatically-expunge-non-violent-offenses-from-criminal-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Republicans file bills to automatically expunge non-violent offenses from criminal records (Dec. 12, 2022)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rebecca Rivas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Missourians would be eligible to have their criminal records automatically cleared of misdemeanor convictions three years after serving their sentence, and five years after serving their sentence for felonies. An estimated 518,000 Missourians would benefit within the first couple of years.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Crista Hogan estimates tens of thousands of people in Greene County are eligible to clean their criminal records of old non-violent misdemeanor and felony offenses \u2014 offenses she says limits their access to good-paying jobs and safe housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But under state law, it requires people to file an arduous petition in court, along with a $250 fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a lawyer, and I would never attempt to do this,\u201d said Hogan, executive director of the Springfield Metro Bar Association. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated. And also if you mess up, then you\u2019ve messed up for a pretty long period of time before you can file again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the Bar Association teamed up with Legal Services of Southern Missouri to provide free legal aid to help people through the process. Yet every year, they only get about 50 cases across the finish line, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a media briefing on Tuesday, Hogan spoke in support of legislation pre-filed by two Republicans \u2014 state Rep. Phil Christofanelli<\/a> of St. Peters and Sen.-elect Curtis Trent of Springfield \u2014 that would make certain non-violent offenses automatically fall off people\u2019s criminal records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople wouldn\u2019t have to do anything,\u201d Hogan said Tuesday. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t have to petition, they wouldn\u2019t have to pay. All they have to do is what they\u2019re already doing, which is not getting into trouble again. That\u2019s the point of this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two legislators wrote the \u201cClean Slate\u201d bill in partnership with a wide-ranging coalition of organizations, including the advocacy group Empower Missouri, the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, faith-based groups and expungement-law experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If passed, the state would have two years to put the proposed changes into effect. Beginning Aug. 28, 2025, the office of state courts administrator would have to identify all records of charges and convictions eligible for expungement on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Clean Slate initiative estimates that 518,000 Missourians will benefit from the legislation within the first couple of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe realized only about 1% of Missourians who are eligible for expungement are currently receiving it,\u201d Trent said. \u201cWe want people to be able to take advantage of the expungement laws in the state and be able to have those benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christofanelli said it\u2019s a \u201ccommon sense bill\u201d that will be good for the state\u2019s economy and for families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a workforce crisis right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want as many people going back to work as possible, and we want to prevent recidivism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An increase in crime, he said, often comes when people don\u2019t have access to housing or jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Missouri law<\/a> excludes violent offenses from expungement eligibility, and all those restrictions would still apply, Trent said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law also limits the number of expungements to one felony and two misdemeanors. This proposal seeks to increase that limit to three felonies and five misdemeanors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People would be eligible for automatic expungement for misdemeanor convictions three years after the sentence was served and for felonies, five years after sentence was served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If people want quicker results, they would be able to use the existing petition process one year after the sentence of a misdemeanor is served and three years for a felony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mallory Rusch, executive director of Empower Missouri, said when the nation\u2019s criminal justice system was set up, it was before the internet, databases and background checks existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to think about the long-term ramifications of a criminal record,\u201d she said, \u201cand make sure that we are not punishing people for the rest of their lives for a crime that resulted in a one-year probation sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminal justice reform advocate Katie Sinquefield spoke Tuesday about a woman interviewed as part of the Clean Slate campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[She] noted that her children are doing a life sentence with her because she tried to cash a stolen $700 check,\u201d Sinquefield said. \u201cShe struggles to keep food on the table and a roof over their head because it\u2019s been difficult to secure stable employment with a felony record. Clean Slate would help entire families.\u201d “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read original article.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rebecca Rivas “Missourians would be eligible to have their criminal records automatically cleared of misdemeanor convictions three years after serving their sentence, and five years after serving their sentence for felonies. An estimated 518,000 Missourians would benefit within the first couple of years. Crista Hogan estimates tens of thousands of people in Greene County are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":831,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions\/831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}