Centuries before every state legislature started to pass a comprehensive expungement or sealing law, pardons were the path to clearing one’s record. Even as mass incarceration accelerated in the 1990s, pardons were almost the only remedy advocates had to work with, especially for convictions and more serious offenses. Although literally tens of millions of cases now are being sealed by Clean Slate automation, pardons remain a real and indeed growing remedy. Learn all about pardoning in this webinar, including how to make the most of it for your clients.
Margaret Love, the nation’s foremost pardon authority, provides a short history of pardoning, the current pardon landscape, and how pardons fit in with expungement and sealing as record clearing tools.
Tobey Oxholm explains how Pennsylvania’s pardon process has been reformed and become accessible in the last 3 years and how a growing network of volunteer “Pardon Projects” now exists to help people apply.
Megan Sprecher talks about her pardoning work in a pardon-friendly state in collaboration with community partners and why pardons are an important part of her organization’s priorities.
Adrian Rocha discusses a growing trend for municipal pardons, along with his involvement in creating such a process in New Orleans.
