Pennsylvania is poised to become the first state in the nation to limit access to criminal records for certain nonviolent offenders. In April, the Pennsylvania General Assembly took up the consideration of bills that aim to help ex-offenders reintegrate into society without the permanent stigma of a criminal record.
Under the Clean Slate Act, people convicted of nonviolent misdemeanors would have their criminal records automatically sealed after ten years. Juvenile records would be sealed after seven years and records for most minor offenses, known as summary offenses in Pennsylvania, would be sealed after five years. People who are charged with an offense, but not convicted of a crime, will have those records sealed after 60 days. Today, eligible ex-offenders must hire an attorney or file a petition to have their records sealed. Nearly three million Pennsylvanians have criminal records.
The Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to move its bill to the Senate on Tuesday and the House Judiciary Committee is expected to follow suit with its plan, which is identical to the Senate version. The bills have broad support from Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly as well as from Democratic Governor Tom Wolf. "We're hearing nothing but three cheers for 'clean slate' across the aisle," says Rebecca Vallas, the managing director of the Center for American Progress's Poverty to Prosperity program.
The bill garnered praise early on from a bipartisan coalition working on criminal justice reform. "We're encouraged that Pennsylvania is taking a step forward to improve access to jobs and remove hurdles to educational opportunities for residents across the Commonwealth," said Andy Hoover, the ACLU of Pennsylvania's legislative director, in a statement.
Tim Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a right-wing Christian non-profit based in Georgia, released a statement calling the bill an "important first step in putting a stop to the vicious cycle of incarceration and, instead, providing an opportunity at redemption for those exiting the justice system and working to rebuild their lives."
A criminal record can hinder a person's access to housing, employment, and education opportunities, which are critical ways to get re-established in a community. In turn, the failure to get back on one's feet after being released from prison helps fuel recidivism rates among ex-offenders. State recidivism rates have been declining, but 60 percent of ex-convicts in Pennsylvania re-offend within three years, according to state Department of Corrections data.
Vallas believes that many people will no longer face these barriers under the new law. "I think it is safe to say that it'll be in the hundreds of thousands," she says. Other states are also likely to enact "clean slate" laws. Last fall, Michigan Republican Senator Rick Jones announced his intention to introduce similar legislation.
