After years of delays, more than 150,000 Connecticut residents have had low-level criminal convictions erased from their records under the state's Clean Slate law.
Connecticut passed Clean Slate in 2021. It was supposed to automatically erase misdemeanors after seven years and certain low-class felonies after 10 years.
The law was championed by people like Miss Smith from Bristol, who said their records were preventing them from re-integrating into society.
“I've been carrying this record for years, and I mean, like carrying it like a weight on your chest that never lets up,” Miss Smith, who asked that her full name not be used for this story, said. “Every job application, every interview. And every time, no matter how many years have passed, no matter how hard I worked, no matter how much of a life I built differently.”
Smith was eligible to have her record erased under Clean Slate, but she’s one of many who waited longer than expected.
After the law passed in 2021, erasures were supposed to start at the beginning of 2023. The rollout was slow-going. State officials said the computers they were using were old and the work was tedious.
Ronnell Higgins, who leads the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, called it “perhaps one of the most difficult IT projects in the history of the state of Connecticut.”
The delays sowed doubt among the people who were supposed to benefit from the law. Many had already been wary of the justice system, and now felt they were being forgotten.
However, Rodney Moore, who leads the legal team with Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, said the Governor’s office worked with them to finally get it across the finish line.
“Our governor stood beside us, making sure that whatever we needed, he had his administration work with [us] on,” Moore said.
Despite the delays, Connecticut’s Clean Slate law is still among the most progressive in the nation. The state is one of 13 to pass substantial Clean Slate legislation, according to the national Clean Slate Initiative.
Governor Ned Lamont celebrated with advocates on Wednesday afternoon. He directed many of his remarks to Smith, who stood to his left.
“I'll never forget what you just said,” Lamont said to Smith. “I'm not a woman with a record. I'm a woman with hope and opportunity in the future, and that's what we're doing here today.”
Smith said she recently had her first job interview post-erasure.
“I walked in with my head held high, knowing that my record was not going to be a barrier,” Smith said. “I cannot tell you what that felt like to sit up straight in a chair, to answer every question with confidence, to walk out of that building feeling like I was a whole person. Clean Slate just didn't clear my record. It gave me back my dignity. It gave me back my future.”
Now, advocates say they’re focused on ensuring people can see whether their records have been erased. Officials with the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection said they hope to have a “simple system” set up by the end of the year.
"We're just now in what I'd call discovery of what the requirements would look like," Mark Sperl with DESPP said. "We're putting things together where this is hopefully a this-year thing, hopefully relatively soon, starting with something in the relatively near term."
See if you qualify for erasure under the Clean Slate law here.
