Sharon Dietrich of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.

Sharon Dietrich, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia

In 2018, Dietrich and her team at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia helped to implement “My Clean Slate,” which went into effect on Dec. 26.

Nonviolent first-degree misdemeanors and most simple assault convictions became eligible for sealing, if the individual had not been convicted for 10 years and if no fines and costs are owed.

Clean Slate was passed with a near unanimous vote (188-2) and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf. The law expands criminal record sealing to include more types of offenses, including some first-degree misdemeanors, which can be sealed by filing petitions. The law also creates an automated computer process to seal arrests that did not result in convictions within 60 days, summary convictions after 10 years, and some second and third-degree misdemeanor convictions if there are no subsequent misdemeanor or felony convictions for a period of 10 years after the time of conviction. The automatic sealing provision will go into effect on June 28.

How did you first become interested in the issue of criminal records and the barriers they create?

I remember the first time in the late 1980s that I met a person who asked me for legal advice because he was unemployed based on his criminal record. I thought that it was an interesting issue (which at that time had no visibility whatsoever), and that it probably applied to many others. With developments like criminal record databases, the rise of the background screening industry, and 9/11, the barrier posed by criminal records has become the single most significant one faced by low-income and minority workers. Two-thirds of the employment intake of Community Legal Services is from people seeking relief from their criminal records, typically old or minor cases that should not affect their employment. We work on this issue because it is the one on which our clients most need our help.

Criminal justice reform is often a contentious and divisive political topic. What do you think it was about the “Clean Slate” bill specifically that allowed it to win bipartisan support at a time when that is increasingly rare?

Criminal justice reform is no longer contentious and divisive; the Left and the Right now have a great deal of agreement that it is necessary. This is not only in Pennsylvania, but also on the federal level (where Congress just passed the First Step Act last year) and across the states. Expungement and sealing also are very popular, with the majority of states expanding eligibility. Common thinking is that our criminal justice system had devolved to a position where it has devalued human potential, cost a great deal of money and has not been supported by social science or common sense. In addition to being supported by these viewpoints, the Clean Slate bill was a solution to the reality that fewer than one out of 10 people eligible to clear their records actually achieve that result. Clean Slate was a sensible policy reform that could be embraced by everyone. And it was, here in Pennsylvania. We are the first, but certainly not the last, state to adopt this measure.

What is the best advice you ever received?

Back in 1987, I had accepted an offer at a law firm, to begin after my clerkship ended. Before I started, I got an offer from Community Legal Services. I was mortified at the prospect of reneging on the firm's offer. Friends told me that the firm would be mad, but they would hire someone else and get over it, and I could make a big difference at CLS. Thirty-two years later, I couldn't be happier that I took that advice. My career at CLS has allowed me to practice law in the public service and to have great satisfaction in what I do every day.