First in Detroit and then in Kalamazoo, on Sept. 9 a bipartisan group of lawmakers announced its intent to introduce a series of bills that would significantly reform how Michigan expunges, or sets aside, the criminal convictions of former offenders.
By doing so, the lawmakers hope to bring former offenders back from a state of “civil death” that can prevent them from getting a job, finding a place to live, or furthering their education—no matter how long ago their offense took place or how law-abiding they have been since their release from the criminal justice system. State Rep. David LaGrand told Daily Kos he expects the bills to be formally introduced on Thursday, Sept. 12.
According to LaGrand, the package of bills was created to address several problems with Michigan’s current expungement laws. “Our expungement architecture is very narrow. No matter how long it's been [since a former offender’s release from the justice system] the current law says you can only ever get one felony off your record and a maximum of two misdemeanors.”
One of the package’s bills would allow individuals with three or fewer felonies to apply to have their convictions set aside if none of the convictions were for an “assaultive crime” and the person has no prior convictions for an assaultive crime in another state. People with a prior conviction for an assaultive crime would be able to apply to have up to two felonies and four misdemeanors set aside.
Other bills in the package would provide for automatic expungement of nonassaultive felonies and misdemeanors; expungement of convictions for possession or use of amounts of marijuana that are now legal in Michigan; expungement of traffic offenses; and shortening of the amount of time someone with a misdemeanor conviction has to wait to apply for an expungement from five years to three years.
Another bill, known as the “One Bad Night” bill, would combine multiple crimes committed within a 24-hour period into a single felony for purposes of expungement.
Separate legislation to expunge marijuana convictions was introduced in August. Possession and use of pot has been legal in Michigan since December 2018, and retail marijuana outlets are expected to start opening as soon as this November.
Law enforcement agencies and organizations that are required by law to do criminal background checks as part of their hiring processes would still have access to records of past convictions. But for the vast majority of employers, as well as landlords, financial institutions, government aid agencies, and educational institutions, it would be as though the convictions never happened.
Joshua Hoe, a policy analyst for Safe & Just Michigan, told Daily Kos that under current law, a conviction can follow a former offender for a surprising amount of time. “A lot of companies, because of the way the system works, don't really distinguish between people who committed a crime 10 years ago and someone who committed a crime yesterday,” he said.
According to LaGrand, that approach doesn’t make sense to the defense attorneys, prosecutors, and members of the judicial community whom the legislators consulted to create the expungement bill package. Prosecutors, LaGrand said, “are trying to increase public safety, and keeping people's criminal records around indefinitely doesn't really serve any public safety purpose.”
According to a Sept. 9 Detroit Free Press report, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan “broadly supports” the package. A March study by researchers with the University of Michigan Law School agrees. According to the study, past offenders who obtain expungements “have extremely low subsequent crime rates, comparing favorably to the general population.”
At the same time, clearing a past offender’s criminal record has immediate positive effects on that individual and their family. In just two years, the study found that people whose records have been expunged were earning an average of 25% more money than they were able to pre-expungement.
But even with the benefits of having a past criminal record cleared, LaGrand said that only 6% of former offenders in Michigan have completed the “tricky, time-consuming and expensive” expungement process offered under current state law.
Michigan isn’t alone in pursuing expungement reform. On June 27, an automated computer program in Pennsylvania started wiping past convictions from former offenders’ records. According to a June 25 report, the program, a result of “Clean Slate” legislation, has until June 27, 2020, to finish sealing an estimated 30 million cases, or one-half of the past criminal convictions in the state court’s database.
California has passed legislation to expunge the criminal records of people convicted under the state’s prior pot prohibition laws, and is currently considering legislation to automatically expunge other criminal convictions for people who are currently eligible to apply to have those convictions sealed.
LaGrand told Daily Kos that he hopes that by passing what will be some of the most progressive laws in the nation, Michigan will inspire still more states to follow suit. “We could be helping millions of people” if that happens, he said. According to the University of Michigan study, approximately 19 million Americans are living with the effects of a past criminal conviction. As for people with misdemeanors, the report says, that number is unknown, but presumably much larger.
The second annual National Expungement Week will take place from Sept. 21-28. Planned activities around the nationwide event will include legal clinics, advocacy for clean slate bills, and voter registration. Click here to find a National Expungement Week event near you. The list of sponsoring organizations is here.
Dawn Wolfe is a freelance writer and journalist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This post was written and reported through our Daily Kos freelance program.