Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addressing the state in Lansing, Michigan, on Oct. 21, 2020. Photo: Michigan Office of the Governor
By Cydney Heed
Staff Writer
A package of “Clean Slate” bills was signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October after receiving bipartisan support in the state’s legislature.
The bills allow for automatic expungement for eligible individuals, increase the number of offenses a person can have expunged, and allow for certain driving and marijuana-related offenses to be expunged, among other things.
“This will change the lives of hundreds of thousands of Michiganders. And I think part of the reason this is so important is that our criminal justice system is fundamentally injust [sic]…and once they pay that debt back to society, there is no reason for us to continue to punish them,” said Yousef Rabhi, state representative for Michigan’s 53rd House District and a sponsor for one of the bills.
Since employers, landlords, and lenders can ask about criminal history as part of their application process, a criminal record can make it difficult for people to get housing or employment.
Rabhi said, “Returning citizens that are not able to get their feet under them in society become, you know, re-offenders and end up back in the criminal justice system.”
Others have echoed this sentiment, including Joshua Hoe, a policy analyst for Safe and Just Michigan. Hoe said, “What this does is when people come back and demonstrate that they are staying crime-free, it allows them to have a fair shot at getting employment and housing.”
One of the laws shortens the waiting period for expungement from 10 years to as little as five, depending on the circumstances.
“So the first thing that it does is it shortens the wait period from 10 years down to five,” Rabhi said.
Eligible citizens will also have their record expunged automatically, instead of having to begin the process themselves.
“Once you were eligible, even if you met all those criteria, you would have to have the money and resources on how to be able to hire an attorney to go to court and to petition to get your record expunged,” Rabhi said. “And so 90-plus percent of the people who are actually eligible to get that record expunged never got their record expunged.”
Two more of the bills also allow for more types of crimes to be expunged, including some marijuana and driving offenses.
Yet another bill creates what is known as a “one bad night provision.” This provision allows for multiple offenses to be expunged at once if they arise from the same set of circumstances.
“So in essence if these crimes all arise from one set of circumstances, they could all be expungeable as one crime,” Rabhi said.
Aside from drawing bipartisan support from state lawmakers, the “Clean Slate” bills have received praise from activist groups.
“There’s so many hurdles that you already have to deal with,” said Demetrius Titus, a program associate for the American Friends Service Committee. “You have to have restrictions on your life based on something that you did, you know, 22 years ago. It’s very, very difficult to navigate that.”
Hoe said, “Public safety is not benefitted when people come back and remain crime-free and still face radical insecurity in housing and employment.”
While Titus, Hoe and Rabhi all agreed that there is more work to be done, they feel that the laws represent a positive step forward.
“It’s an item of fundamental fairness and Justice that has been restored in our criminal justice system,” said Rabhi.
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