Love & Schlussel on Criminal Record Reforms

Margaret Colgate Love and David Schlussel (Law Office of Margaret Love and Collateral Consequences Resource Center) have posted Pathways to Reintegration: Criminal Record Reforms in 2019 (Collateral Consequences Resource Center 2020; Poverty Law, Policy, and Practice (2nd Ed.)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

 

This report from the Collateral Consequences Resource Center summarizes legislative efforts and executive orders to reduce barriers faced by people with a criminal record in the workplace, at the ballot box, and in many other areas of daily life. In 2019, 43 states, D.C., and the federal government enacted an extraordinary 153 laws to restore rights and opportunities to people with a record.

Lawmakers took major actions to restore voting and other civil rights; authorize expungement and other forms of record relief; expand diversion; limit use of criminal records in occupational licensing, employment, and housing; alleviate immigration consequences; and curb driver’s license penalties unrelated to driving offenses. Approaches to relief varied widely from state to state, with respect to the type of relief, the specifics of who is eligible for it, the mechanics of delivery, and its effect.

The report provides topical discussions of the reforms, a legislative report card of the most and least productive states, and an appendix documenting the laws by jurisdiction.