Expungement

A number of studies have looked at what’s called the “second chance gap” in various states. That term refers to the difference between the number of people eligible to have their convictions expunged or vacated and those who actually have done it. In a study published...

A felony conviction can be like a yoke, weighing you down long after you have served your sentence. It can limit your employment opportunities, make it difficult to secure housing and even affect some of your civil rights. Fortunately, all hope is not lost. The law in...

A criminal record can affect your life significantly by limiting your employment opportunities. This can prevent you from accessing career growth chances. Anyone can make bad choices, and unfortunately, yours affected your record. However, if you have paid your dues,...

Federal dollars for marijuana expungements A bill currently making its way through Congress called the Harnassing Opportunities for Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act would try to help rectify this. The bill would send money to states to fund marijuana-crime expungement...

Washington State gives people with criminal records the chance to expunge their records, giving them the opportunity to put an old conviction behind them so it no longer holds them back. But the process is complicated, and many eligible people are intimidated or...

In many cases, the secondary consequences of a criminal conviction can far outweigh the original punishment. Long after you’ve paid your fines or served your time, a conviction on your record may limit where you can live, work and volunteer. Because convictions can...