Sealing Records Provides Second Chances

Thousands of low-level, non-violent offenders are processed through the New York state criminal justice system each year. The convicted offenders may be sentenced to pay fines, perform community service, complete a term of supervised probation, or even serve jail time. The debt to society must be paid, but at some point all aspects of the prosecution are resolved and the person is both expected and encouraged to re-enter productive life and put the transgression in the past.

However, significant impediments hinder the process. We are a state of second chances, and yet criminal convictions, even of the lowest levels, often present a permanent bar to opportunity in education, employment, licensing, and housing. Unlike neighboring states—including New Jersey, which has an expungement statute—New York lacks a mechanism by which most people convicted of low-level, non-violent crimes can have their records cleared, even after years of impeccable behavior. The societal result is a growing population of rehabilitated minor offenders who are underemployed or otherwise permanently disadvantaged, with dreams that can never be realized.