An Early Examination of Utah’s Clean Slate Legislation: Implications for Equity

• In Event: Policy Panel: Effects of Automated and Petition-Based Criminal Record Clearance, Expungement, and Sealing

Abstract

Criminal record clearance policies that exist today are fairly limited in scope and application. Most states have legal mechanisms to expunge or seal criminal records, but such relief is often limited to dismissed, erroneous, or out-of-date juvenile records. In places where expungement can be requested for old convictions, the process can be unclear and burdensome. A person may have to determine eligibility and where to file, complete notarized legal documents, and pay a fee. The current legislative movement on criminal record clearance is more expansive and redemptive in that a wider range of offenses are eligible for clearance and in that it focuses on alleviating the burden on record-bearers by “automating” the process of clearing criminal records for eligible cases. The current study examines one such example of legislative reforms in Utah that provides automatic expungement relief for qualifying misdemeanor conviction and non-conviction records for individuals who have remained crime-free for a set period of time. As the reform is still in its early stage of implementation, we present findings from an early examination of records expungement and draw policy insights from historical data to explore how different population groups and types of criminal cases would be most affected by clean slate legislation in Utah.

Authors

• KiDeuk Kim, Urban Institute

• Kelly Roberts Freeman, National Center for State Courts