Clean Slate Home State Expands Eligibility, Violent Crime Down & More

"Clean Slate expansion is about providing opportunities to those who’ve earned second chances and fostering fairness within the system."
 
Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the first automatic “Clean Slate” expungement law in the nation, enacted legislation this week to expand eligibility for Clean Slate to low-level felonies. Governor Shapiro promptly signed the bill on Thursday, delivering a years-long goal of bipartisan sponsors, Representatives Jordan Harris (D) and Sheryl Delozier (R), and a gift to the people of Pennsylvania who will have better access to jobs and housing in the new year as a result of the law. 
 
"A justice system that solves only half of all murders and less than a third of all rapes is not maximizing public safety."
 
Five years after President Trump signed landmark criminal justice reform legislation, the First Step Act, the former President's staff are reportedly divided on whether he should continue talking about the achievement or run away from it. And they're not alone. The problem, argues Kevin Ring in The Hill, isn't the bill or the need for reform, but missteps advocates have made in messaging and strategy along the way and since the pandemic. 
 
"[R]etail theft has been lower this year in most of the country than it was a few years ago, according to police data."

The National Retail Federation has retracted its claim from earlier this year that nearly half of the $94.5 billion in missing merchandise in 2021 was due to organized theft after the trade publication Retail Dive revealed that faulty data had been used to arrive at the inaccurate figure. Experts say that organized crime accounted for closer to five percent of missing merchandise that year. For many who took the industry's word at face value, the revision raises questions about the accuracy of data shaping public perception and influencing legislative actions against online retailers.
 
"It’s truly one of the cruelest ideas in the American legal system. And most people don’t even know it exists."
 
Felony murder laws—which are on the books in 48 states—allow people to be charged with murder even if someone else caused the death simply for being present. Remarkably, no one knows how many people in the United States have been imprisoned for felony murder. This week, The New Yorker published a deep dive into how widespread the use of this law has been, and it’s well worth the read. 
 
"The crime trend nationally is incredibly positive — unless you own a Kia or Hyundai." 

Americans tend to think that crime is rising, but new data now points to sizable declines this year, even with a couple of cities as outliers. Quarterly data from the FBI in particular suggests 2023 featured one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the United States in more than 50 years, with murder plummeting at likely at one of the fastest rates of decline ever recorded. However, motor vehicle theft is up ten percent from last year. Read more from data analyst and consultant, Jeff Asher, here.