ICYMI: SENS BOB CASEY, JONI ERNST INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM BILL

CLEAN SLATE ACT WOULD GIVE SECOND CHANCE AT ACCESS TO

JOBS, HOUSING, EDUCATION 

Justice Action Network’s Holly Harris: “The Clean Slate Act offers hope to people whose search for a fresh start should be met with support instead of barriers, and opportunity in place of stigma.” 

(Washington, D.C.) -- The Justice Action Network, the largest bipartisan organization focused on criminal justice reform legislation at the state and federal levels, applauds Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) for reaching across the aisle and introducing the Clean Slate Act. This landmark bill, modeled from bipartisan legislation in Pennsylvania, would provide people convicted of non-violent federal offenses a second chance to access stable employment, housing, and education through automatic record sealing. Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) introduced similar legislation in the House in 2019. 

The Clean Slate Act would automatically seal federal conviction records for certain drug-related offenses and arrests resulting in acquittal or when charges are not filed, and establish a record-sealing petition process for individuals convicted of other qualifying crimes. The legislation would remove most of the burden placed on courts and provide appropriate incentive structures for individuals striving towards successful reentry, making communities safer and saving taxpayer dollars. 

One-in-three people in the U.S. -- over 100 million -- now have some type of criminal record, which can lead to barriers to employment, housing, and education. According to the Center for American Progress, roughly nine in ten employers, four in five landlords, and three in five colleges use background checks to screen applicants. These lifelong barriers associated with criminal records are also a significant drain on the national economy, costing the U.S. an estimated $87 billion per year in lost GDP, according to the Center for Economic Policy Research. 

Senator Bob Casey (D-PA):

“Automated record sealing is a critical step in the ongoing fight for criminal justice reform. Too many Americans are not given a second chance at life because they are burdened by criminal records for nonviolent convictions or arrests that did not result in a conviction. With nearly half of U.S. children having at least one parent with a criminal record, automatically sealing these records helps us invest in our Nation’s future by ensuring millions of parents with minor criminal histories, and their families, aren’t prohibited from achieving a successful life.”

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA): 

“Those who have been charged with low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors oftentimes face significant barriers to employment, housing, and other necessities, even after they’ve paid their debt to society. This bipartisan legislation is a commonsense criminal justice reform to give these individuals a second chance, while keeping our communities safe.”

Holly Harris, President and Executive Director of Justice Action Network:  

“For far too long, criminal records have represented a life sentence for Americans who have turned their lives around. The Clean Slate Act offers hope to people whose search for a fresh start should be met with support instead of barriers, and opportunity in place of stigma.We applaud Senators Casey and Ernst for working across the aisle and introducing this critical second chance jobs bill in the Senate. Along with Representatives Blunt Rochester and Reschenthaler, they’re working together to give Americans the second chance they need.”

Rebecca Vallas, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress:

“I am thrilled to see Congress continuing to learn from the states when it comes to criminal justice reform, following the bipartisan momentum growing in the states for criminal record-clearing and other important second chance reforms to help people get back to work, lift families out of poverty, and interrupt the cycle of economic instability and recidivism trapping countless individuals and families in the justice system.” 

The federal Clean Slate Act is modeled on landmark legislation passed in Pennsylvania in 2018, which has, to date, automatically sealed more than 35 million cases involving low-level, nonviolent offenses. That legislation, a signature initiative of the Center for American Progress and Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, earned the support of overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the state legislature, and a broad coalition of business leaders, law enforcement, civil rights groups, athletes, and advocates from the far left to the far right.