Got a Criminal Record? Expunging It Is Getting Easier and Less Expensive
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Many of the 70 million Americans with a record might be eligible to have it expunged but don’t take advantage of the opportunity.
In analyzing criminal cases in Baltimore last year, Maryland lawyer and software programmer Matthew Stubenberg found 23,386 instances in which people convicted of crimes could have had their records expunged.
He also found that people had petitioned to clear their records in less than a third of the cases — leaving thousands at risk of carrying a criminal rap sheet that could stand in the way of employment, housing, student loans or a professional license.
That’s not out of the ordinary, many legal analysts and specialists in expungement say. Many Americans are not taking advantage of a growing number of state laws that allow people to clear or seal their records of arrests and convictions for an expanding list of misdemeanor crimes, and even some low-level felonies, after they’ve served their sentences.
Part of the reason is ignorance of the remedies that the laws allow, part of the reason is the cost. In Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee, for example, filing for expungement of a criminal record costs around $500. And lawyers can charge thousands of dollars to do it.
“A lot of people might be eligible [for an expungement], but they might not know,” said Madeline Neighly of the nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center. “They might not have access to the paperwork or someone to walk them through the process. They usually need civil legal aid. And in some cases it’s actually quite expensive to file for expungement.”
In response, legal aid groups like the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, where Stubenberg works, have emerged to help provide free or low-cost help to people to clear their records. The City of Detroit earlier this month launched an initiative to help expunge records to help people get jobs.
And Stubenberg has created a website that allows people in Maryland to create their own expungement applications without using a lawyer.
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