Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont plans to reintroduce a clean slate bill in the upcoming legislative session. Criminal justice reform advocates say the bill would help ex-offenders get jobs and become more productive.
Ex-offenders in Connecticut currently have to apply to the state Board of Pardons and Parole to have their records expunged after three years for a misdemeanor and five years for a felony.
The clean slate bill would automatically do that for them.
Matt McDermott, with Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, or CONECT, an advocacy group that supports the clean slate bill, says he is hopeful lawmakers will pass the bill this year, after it failed last year.
“Anytime you are working on a new issue, a new concept, it takes time. And it takes work. So we are excited by the governor’s leadership and support, and we are optimistic. We think it’s a very important issue for the state and the country to grapple with as a way to undo the legacy of mass incarceration.”
The governor’s office argues that automatic expungement not only gives most ex-offenders a clean slate, but it also frees up the Board of Pardons and Parole to handle more complex criminal records.
Lawmakers have tweaked the bill to exclude sexual and violent offenders.
