Queens lawmaker, advocates back bill to automatically expunge criminal records
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Lawmakers join the Clean Slate Coalition to call for the passage of a bill that would expunge conviction records. Eagle file photo by Phineas Rueckert
By Rachel Vick
Criminal justice reform advocates, community leaders and elected officials urged the state to enact a measure automatically expunging past criminal convictions during a day of advocacy in Albany Thursday.
The Clean Slate Act, sponsored by Queens Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, would establish a two-step process to seal and later expunge records after an individual has served their sentence, a key reform that will enable people with past convictions to move on with successful lives.
Few people eligible for expungement under existing legislation have applied, prompting the need for automatic sealing, Cruz said.
“What we refuse to talk about is how it is the kind of system that perpetuates and creates almost a lifetime sentence for anyone involved in it,” she said. “This isn’t really about the ‘victims’ it's about creating a system where we have two categories of people.”
Passing the legislation is “the humane thing to do,” she said.
The legislation would also allow formerly incarcerated individuals to “fully and fairly participate in our shared communities,” said Center For Community Alternatives organizer Marvin Mayfield. Even years-old criminal convictions can jeopardize New Yorkers’ ability to land a job, an apartment or a home, and the majority of people convicted of crimes are Black or Latino.
“‘Clean Slate’ is a moral imperative, it is an economic imperative, it is a racial justice imperative, Mayfield said. “Even after we complete our sentences we still have these barriers. And because of racism and policing and prosecution, this system of perpetual punishment disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities.”
A similar law in Michigan helped lead to a 20 percent spike in average income for formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as an 11 percent increase in the employment rate among people convicted of crimes, according to a 2020 study published by the Harvard Law Review.
Though 22 years have passed since Center For Community Alternatives leader Melinda Agnew served a three-year probation term, her criminal record continues to impact her day-to-day life as a single mother, she said.
She said she has been passed over for promotions and housing opportunities as a result of her criminal record.
“When you cannot move up the ladder at work it's hard to earn more and support your family; what I've accomplished for the past 22 years does not matter to them,” Agnew said. “They do not look at me holistically, instead they see my record. It’s time to end what is tantamount to a racial caste system.”
The bill awaits committee approval in both the Assembly and the Senate, where it is sponsored by Sen. Zellnor Myrie.
