On Friday, Pennsylvania became the first state to deploy an automated system to seal criminal records for all qualifying formerly incarcerated or arrested people in the state. In the first month of operation alone, the state estimates that 2.5 million cases will be sealed, with an additional 27.5 million in the year that follows.
Gov. Tom Wolf signed the Clean Slate bill into law one year ago today, and the automated system was built in the following months.
Though some localities have used similar technology to help people submit petitions to clear their records, no state has automatically cleared the records of all eligible people before. Advocates say the milestone will bring thousands of Pennsylvanians back into the workforce, make it easier for people with criminal records to find housing, and open educational opportunities for them.
Though judges in Pennsylvania grant expungement in the manual petition system around 90% of the time, less than 10% of the people who are eligible to have their records sealed actually do. That’s because many people don’t even know they can have their records expunged—and if they do, the process is time consuming for both the petitioner and the courts. People with criminal records need to find a lawyer or navigate the highly complex legal process alone. They must painstakingly prepare a petition loaded with docket numbers for a district attorney to review. If there is no objection, a court hearing is scheduled and if the judge grants the request, a county clerk has to manually enter the clearance into the court system.< ..
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