PA House Votes 189-14 to Expand Clean Slate to Felony Records! On June 5, 2023, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 189-14 in support of Clean Slate 3.0! House Bill 689 expands Clean Slate automated record sealing to drug felonies and property felonies. If the bill passes the Pennsylvania Senate and the Governor signs it…
On April 26, 2023, CLS and a bipartisan coalition of criminal justice advocates and state lawmakers went to Harrisburg to support House Bill 689, the next expansion of Clean Slate. Just one week later, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously voted H.B 689 out of committee on May 3rd! If passed into law, Clean Slate 3.0…
On Wednesday, October 21st 2020, the Pennsylvania General Assembly unanimously enacted House Bill 440 (Delozier, R-Cumberland, and McClinton, D-Philadelphia), a bipartisan bill which advances Clean Slate policies in Pennsylvania. This bill builds upon the Clean Slate Law, Act 56 of 2018, to open jobs, housing and other opportunities to Pennsylvanians with criminal cases who deserve…
Reflections from CLS Deputy Director of Operations and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Brenda Marrero on racial injustice.
Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law, Act 56 of 2018, was passed to bring criminal record sealing to scale by the use of automation. Nine months into the automated sealing of cases, other states interested in replicating the model have inquired how its implementation has been going. The answer: Extremely well. Clean Slate has been effectively implemented…
Contact with the criminal legal system comes with a price tag that a growing number of Americans cannot afford to pay. With one in three Americans living with a criminal record, it is no surprise that an estimated ten million Americans owe a total of 50 billion dollars in court imposed fines and costs.
Expungements: Good or Bad? Discuss. Two quite different perspectives on the value of record clearing (which I will refer to here as “expungements” as a shorthand) are sometimes articulated. Here’s one. “Expungement is the best remedy for people with records. It really does provide a clean slate. It doesn’t require employers or landlords to follow…
The following post was written by CLS Litigation Director Sharon Dietrich. I sometimes am asked for authority for the proposition that the reporting of an expunged or sealed case by a commercial screener violates the FCRA. Unfortunately, the dearth of case law directly on point keeps me from just succinctly giving a citation, even though…
You probably are wondering, “What is she talking about, with a subject line like that?” The answer to your thought is that I use this phrase when giving clients an important warning about the effect of their expungement orders. I am illustrating for them the idea that I can’t guarantee removal of their expunged cases…
Mr. Amos has a criminal record. Even though the charges against him were dismissed, they still remained on his record and affected his ability to find work. Today, Mr. Amos’ record is sealed
