Clean Slate
Full title: An Act requiring clean slate automated record sealing (H.1811 / S.1114)
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Mary Keefe & Rep. Andy Vargas; Sen. Cindy Friedman
The Issue
Although Massachusetts updated our criminal record sealing laws in 2018 to make sealing more accessible, the administrative burden required to seal records remains a deterrent.
Individuals seeking to seal records need to mail or deliver petitions to the Commissioner of Probation who processes them manually, one-by-one. This creates backlogs, with several months passing before people hear back when they have already waited years for the opportunity.
Moreover, many people do not know when their records are eligible for sealing, and only learn they might be eligible for record sealing after they lose the prospect for a job, housing, or other opportunity due to their record.
Record sealing has well-documented benefits, but these benefits in economic opportunity are only possible if people can get their records sealed.
The Solution
The Clean Slate bill would require the Commissioner of Probation to automatically seal criminal and juvenile records after the applicable waiting periods without the filing of a petition. The bill also specifies all juvenile cases are sealable under the juvenile sealing law because the Commissioner is now applying the adult sealing law to certain charges, creating longer wait times and making some charges not sealable at all. Other states such as PA, CT, NJ, CA, CO, DE, MI, OK, VA, and UT have successfully adopted automatic record clearing with great benefits to those with records.
Contact Your Legislators
Find your legislators’ contact information here.
I am writing today to urge you to co-sponsor the Clean Slate bill (H.1811/S.114): An Act requiring clean slate automated record sealing.
Although Massachusetts updated our criminal record sealing laws in 2018 to make sealing more accessible, the administrative burden required to seal records remains a deterrent. Individuals seeking to seal records need to mail or deliver petitions to the Commissioner of Probation who processes them manually, one-by-one. This creates backlogs, with several months passing before people hear back when they have already waited years for the opportunity. Record sealing has well-documented benefits, but these benefits in economic opportunity are only possible if people can get their records sealed.
The Clean Slate bill would require the Commissioner of Probation to automatically seal criminal and juvenile records after the applicable waiting periods without the filing of a petition. Other states such as PA, CT, NJ, CA, CO, DE, MI, OK, VA, and UT have successfully adopted automatic record clearing with great benefits to those with records. MA should join them.
- Record sealing can create economic opportunity, but only if people can access it. Let’s automate record sealing and eliminate unnecessary administrative burden. #CleanSlate
- Record sealing helps promote economic opportunity and mobility. #CleanSlate
- Record sealing is a racial justice issue. #CleanSlate
Other states such as PA, CT, NJ, CA, CO, DE, MI, OK, VA, and UT have successfully adopted automatic record clearing with great benefits. Let’s pass the #CleanSlate bill and join them.
Write a Letter to the Editor
Adapt the template below! Or email us at issues@progressivemass.com for help!
Although Massachusetts updated our criminal record sealing laws in 2018 to make sealing more accessible, the administrative burden required to seal records remains a deterrent. Individuals seeking to seal records need to mail or deliver petitions to the Commissioner of Probation who processes them manually, one-by-one. This creates backlogs, with several months passing before people hear back when they have already waited years for the opportunity. Record sealing has well-documented benefits, but these benefits in economic opportunity are only possible if people can get their records sealed.
The Clean Slate bill (H.1811/S.114) would require the Commissioner of Probation to automatically seal criminal and juvenile records after the applicable waiting periods without the filing of a petition. Other states such as PA, CT, NJ, CA, CO, DE, MI, OK, VA, and UT have successfully adopted automatic record clearing with great benefits to those with records. MA should join them.
Read More
Pager, Devah, Bruce Western, and Naomi Sugie. “Sequencing Disadvantage: Barriers to Employment Facing Young Black and White Men with Criminal Records.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 623, no. 1 (2009): 195–213. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716208330793.
Prescott, J. J. and Sonja B. Starr. “Expungement of Criminal Convictions: An Empirical Study.” Harvard Law Review 133, no. 8 (2020): 2461–255. ttps://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-133/expungement-of-criminal-convictions-an-empirical-study/.
Restoration of Rights Project. “50-State Comparison: Expungement, Sealing & Other Record Relief.” 2020. https://ccresourcecenter.org/state-restoration-profiles/50-state-comparisonjudicial-expungement-sealing-and-set-aside-2-2/.
Tsai Bishop, Elizabeth, Brook Hopkins, Chijindu Obiofuma, and Felix Owusu. Racial Disparities in the Massachusetts Criminal System. Report by The Criminal Justice Policy Program, Harvard Law School Submitted to Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. September 2020. https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Massachusetts-Racial-Disparity-Report-FINAL.pdf.
Learn more at http://cleanslatema.org/.
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