PA House Passes Clean Slate Expansion!
PA House Votes 189-14 to Expand Clean Slate to Felony Records! On June 5, 2023, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives…
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Pennsylvania Needs Clean Slate Expansion
On April 26, 2023, CLS and a bipartisan coalition of criminal justice advocates and state lawmakers went to Harrisburg to…
Report: Making Occupational Licensing Reform in Pennsylvania a Reality
Pennsylvania’s Occupational Licensing Reform Law (Act 53 of 2020) was signed into law in 2020 with the goal of opening…
Proposed Regulations Threaten to Undermine Occupational Licensing Reform Law
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, the Pennsylvania General Assembly made a priority of approving Act 53, known…
CLS Files Lawsuit to Challenge Pennsylvania’s Childline Registry
PHILADELPHIA, PA – On August 10 parents, caregivers, and community organizations filed suit in the case of A.W. v. Commonwealth…
CLS Is Open for Live Legal Help!
You can now get live help every weekday at Community Legal Services! We are open for live in-person intake at…
The Clean Slate Screening Project: A Case Study
Legal services providers are frequently presented with the challenge of communicating complicated and evolving legal advice to large numbers of…
Report: Breaking Down Barriers to Record Clearing – A Survey of the Field
Clearing criminal records can be life-changing, leading to employment, higher wages, housing, educational opportunities, and more. For the one in…
Report: Supporting Women in the Criminal Legal System Through Access to Diversionary Programs
Today, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, as part of Incarcerated Women’s Working Group (“Working Group”) released a report on increasing…
Have a Criminal Record? This New Law May Help You Get Work in Pennsylvania
Many people in Pennsylvania have trained for a career, or have thought about pursuing a new profession, only to be…
Report: Reforming the Child Abuse Registry System in Pennsylvania
Every year thousands of Pennsylvanians are placed on the child abuse registry for alleged child abuse or neglect, without first…
PA General Assembly Unanimously Expands Criminal Record Sealing By Removing Court Debt and Other Barriers
On Wednesday, October 21st 2020, the Pennsylvania General Assembly unanimously enacted House Bill 440 (Delozier, R-Cumberland, and McClinton, D-Philadelphia), a…
Using Innovation to Address Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System
Reflections from CLS Deputy Director of Operations and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Brenda Marrero on racial injustice.
Report: Pennsylvania Clean Slate: Delivering on Its Promises
Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law, Act 56 of 2018, was passed to bring criminal record sealing to scale by the use…
EEOC’s Criminal Record Guidance One Year Later: Lessons from the Community
April 25, 2012 was a very significant day for many millions of Americans: It was the day that the Equal…
The Heavy Price for Restoring One’s Name: Court Debt Bars Record Clearing
Contact with the criminal legal system comes with a price tag that a growing number of Americans cannot afford to…
