The Record Relief Resource Center features a new, comprehensive report on the barriers and solutions to record relief for courts and additional resources for courts.
The report, Making the Promise of Expungement a Reality: A Guide to Record Relief in the State Courts, summarizes the current landscape on record relief for courts, including expungement, sealing, set-asides, and judicial certificates of relief. It examines how the collateral consequences of having court records – barriers to employment, housing, college admission, student loans, professional licenses, voting rights, government benefits, etc. – impact people and the courts. For example, collateral consequences can undermine the fundamental goals of the legal system, the report says, by contributing to sentencing disproportionality, increasing recidivism and court caseloads, exacerbating racial disparities in court outcomes, which undermines public trust in the courts.
Executive Summary | Full Report
The interactive map below shows where record relief is being implemented in the state courts. Programs and initiatives are categorized by the seven record relief solutions laid out in the report.
Additional Resources
The National Conference of State Legislatures, Criminal Records and Reentry Toolkit provides information about the legislative landscape related to collateral consequences and record relief.
The Collateral Consequences Resource Center, 50-State Comparison: Expungement, Sealing & Other Record Relief provides information about the legislative landscape related to collateral consequences and record relief, including detailed state-by-state breakdowns.
The National Center for Access to Justice, Fines and Fees Map provides state-by-state information about policies and initiatives related to fines and fees.
The Clean Slate Initiative, Clean Slate in the States provides information about the landscape of clean slate laws, as well as policy information for lawmakers.
The SEARCH Group, Technical and Operational Challenges of Implementing Clean Slate: Research Findings describes the barriers faced by many Americans in access record relief and the technical challenges involved in implementing effective clean slate laws.
The report and resource center were developed in collaboration with members of the Blueprint for Racial Justice Systemic Change Working Group. The BRJ is supported by the State Justice Institute and staffed by the National Center for State Courts.