The National Urban League hopes Massachusetts could be the next state to pass what’s known as Clean Slate Legislation, which would automatically seal records for certain eligible candidates.
Thirteen states have already enacted similar measures but prior attempts to pass the legislation in Massachusetts have stalled in recent years.
Rahsaan Hall, President and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said current state law already allows the sealing of some criminal records, but Clean Slate bills would automate the process.
Currently, people looking to seal their records in Massachusetts must put together a lengthy filing that includes certified copies of their records, and they must pay any associated fees. There is also a waiting period of three years for a misdemeanor or seven years for a felony, as long as the person has remained in good standing.
Hall said the proposed legislation would only apply to people with nonviolent records or misdemeanors. It would not apply to sex offenders, those convicted of violent crimes, or more complex cases. As written, he estimated that 500,000 people in Massachusetts would be eligible for automatic record sealing.
Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League, called it an equity issue, telling GBH News that people with criminal records have a harder time accessing jobs, housing, obtaining credit, or even trying to chaperone their child’s school field trip.
He pointed to a Harvard study that found that criminal records disproportionately affect Black and brown people in Massachusetts.
“Clean Slate is about the defeat of poverty because many people who get saddled with these records can’t get a good job. And then they can’t get their foot up in the American economy.”
Removing barriers to economic opportunity also creates more productive taxpayers, he said.
“We shouldn’t saddle people with a lifelong sentence after they paid their debt to society in the criminal justice system,” Morial said.
