As reported in this local article, headlined "Gov. Whitmer signs bills expanding criminal record expungement in Michigan," notable record relief reform has now become law in the Wolverine State. Here are the details:
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Monday that will automatically clear certain criminal convictions from public view in Michigan while also making more people eligible for expungement through the application process.
The changes are expected to help hundreds of thousands of Michiganders by removing a barrier to employment, housing and other opportunities after people have rehabilitated themselves.
During a news conference with Whitmer in Detroit, lawmakers and advocates held up Michigan as a national leader in expungement reform. The automatic record-clearing legislation is the "most expansive version of this law in the country," said John Cooper, executive director of Safe & Just Michigan, one of the organizations that advocated for the bills.
Whitmer called it a "historic" day for Michigan. “These bipartisan bills are going to be a game changer,” she said. “They will ensure a clean slate for hundreds of thousands of people. And they will help us grow our workforce and expand access to education and skills training."
State Rep. Graham Filler, a DeWitt Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and joined in announcing the bipartisan bills in Detroit last fall, said the reform will directly increase public safety. "You're in your community, you're invested in your community, you're spending time with your family, you're working, you're accessing housing," he said. "We have less recidivism, less victims. This is what happens when you access expungement."
Crime survivors who support the legislation agreed. "For many crime survivors, the most important thing ... is what happened it us, we don’t want it to happen again to anyone," Aswad Thomas, a survivor of gun violence, told the Free Press. Thomas is managing director of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, a national network with chapters in Michigan. "And passing reforms like the Clean Slate bill, when people are able to get access to a job, people are able to get access to education, people are able to get access to employment, it actually increases public safety."
A coalition of groups that pushed for the reform over the last few years say Michigan's process to seal a conviction so that it doesn't appear on a background check has long been costly and complicated, and the restrictions unduly narrow. Only 6.5% of people who qualify for expungement in Michigan have their records cleared within five years of becoming eligible, according to a study out of the University of Michigan Law School. The study found that people who get their records expunged see higher earnings and low recidivism rates.
"This is bigger than criminal justice reform," Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said. "This is about economic opportunity and full participation in our economy and our society."
The state follows Pennsylvania, Utah and California in adopting an automated system to wipe clean certain convictions from public records after a period of time. Michigan's law will apply retroactively and is the first to automatically clear prior low-level felonies.
Under the automatic record-clearing law, misdemeanors will be expunged seven years after sentencing. Felonies will be cleared 10 years after sentencing or the person's release from incarceration, whichever comes last. Up to two felonies and four misdemeanors can be automatically cleared.
Not eligible for automatic expungement are assaultive crimes, serious misdemeanors, "crimes of dishonesty" (such as forgery and counterfeiting), offenses punishable by 10 or more years in prison and crimes that involve a minor, a vulnerable adult, injury or serious impairment, death or human trafficking. Assaultive crimes are defined as offenses such as assault, homicide, manslaughter, assaults against pregnant women, kidnapping, rape, armed robbery, terrorism, and violations involving bombs and explosives, according to the House Fiscal Agency.
The legislation gives the state two years to implement the automatic expungement process. The remaining legislation in the seven-bill package will take effect in 180 days. The bills expand eligibility for expungement through the application process, which is handled by a judge.
As the parenthesis in my post title highlights, I am hopeful that Ohio's long-standing rivalry with its neighbor up north might lead the Buckeye State to try to keep up on the record relief front. And, coincidentally, the latest new drafting contest from a partnership of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and the Ohio Justice & Policy Center and the Collateral Consequences Resource Center is focused on suggesting changes to Ohio’s existing statutory record relief provisions. The details on this contest, titled "Re-Imagining 'Second Chances': Improving Ohio’s Re-Entry Provisions," are available here on the DEPC website.
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