| Most people live their whole lives without getting into | | | | they apply for a loan to go to college. They might |
| any legal trouble, so why should anyone care what | | | | think life will be normal again until they try to rent an |
| happens to the people who do make mistakes that | | | | apartment. These people soon find out that their life |
| lead to an arrest or conviction? Some would say that | | | | may never be "normal" again. |
| these are people that deserve whatever punishment | | | | The reality is that today, with the increased use of |
| is coming their way. And yes, they do deserve to be | | | | employment background searches, coupled with the |
| punished for whatever laws were broken. But what if | | | | current economic environment; even the smallest |
| that arrest for a bar fight meant that no matter how | | | | mistakes people have made are being exposed. Even |
| hard the person tries to move on with their life, their | | | | if you are not affected by this problem directly, the |
| record of arrest or conviction keeps punishing them | | | | community in which you live suffers the effects of |
| over and over, in ways most people just don't | | | | having too many unemployed or under-employed |
| understand? What if a minor shoplifting charge from | | | | citizens who can't reach their full potential of success |
| many years ago, kept a person from getting their | | | | because they have a record. Because the majority of |
| real estate license? What if that person couldn't find | | | | these people can't find work that will support a |
| a job that would support his or her family? What if | | | | family, they and their families often become a burden |
| this happened to you or someone you know, would | | | | on the social services in their communities. |
| you have compassion then? | | | | Many studies have been done that prove that |
| This is why you should care, because it can happen | | | | anyone with a record no matter how minor the |
| to you or someone you know more easily than you | | | | incident, is discriminated against in many ways that |
| think. | | | | the State and Federal laws forbid. An expungement is |
| Our State and Federal governments make it clear | | | | one of only a few solutions that a person with a |
| that once a person has paid the penalty of their | | | | record has to legally seal that record from public |
| crime, they are supposed to have most, or all of | | | | view, and actually have a second chance at a |
| their civil rights restored. Voting rights are often | | | | successful future. Expungement laws guarantee that |
| restored; in some states even the right to own a | | | | a person with a record no longer has to expose their |
| firearm is restored. Some states go so far as to | | | | past record to a potential employer, with a few |
| forbid an employer to ask an applicant about an | | | | exceptions of course. Nor do they have to expose |
| arrest. So, these people who have been punished by | | | | their record on college funding applications, or rent |
| the courts might think that they can have a normal | | | | applications. |
| life again too, until they start applying for jobs that | | | | A properly executed expungement can help to |
| require a background search. They might think that | | | | restore the full civil rights to a person who has paid |
| life will be normal again after a past conviction, until | | | | for their past mistake. |