In Connecticut, more than 100,000 residents will have their criminal records erased by early next year. That’s because of the Clean State Law Governor Ned Lamont signed in 2021.
The governor joined lawmakers and advocates in New Haven to celebrate the implementation of the law on Monday.
The automatic expungement covers anyone convicted since Jan. 1, 2000. Anyone convicted before that has to fill out a one-page petition for expungement.
Philip Kent is with CONECT, Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, an organization that has lobbied for the new law since 2018.
“It was a hard fight, and in 2021 we finally got the law passed and then we found that there needed to be a second bill to tweak some of the first law, and so that the law could actually become implemented,” Kent said.
That second bill, which now implements the law, was signed by the governor in June.
The law would have a significant racial and economic justice impact, Kent said.
“The fact that the erasure really removes significant barriers for people who have criminal records to get better jobs, to get more stable housing, to get access into higher education, that they would have been barred from potentially before. That's the real impact here,” he said.
Community Baptist Church, another faith group part of CONECT, spearheaded the grassroots effort to pass Clean Slate legislation.
Anyone with a lower level felony that is at least 10 years since conviction and any misdemeanor that is at least seven years since conviction with exceptions for sex crimes and family violence crimes will have their criminal record expunged.
That’s important to Helen Carabello, who said she pleaded guilty to a felony drug charge a dozen years ago and was sentenced to probation.
"But since then I have been serving another sentence; not the one that the judge imposed, but one that has been very real, with employers, landlords, schools and professions that have judged me ever since," Carabello said.
Among the many speakers on Monday was Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, who highlighted the 100,000 number, "because, right now, in our beautiful state, there are 100,000 open jobs."
Bysiewicz and others said the law might be the biggest economic development step ever taken in Connecticut.
