Restoration of Firearm Rights After Conviction: A National Survey and Recommendations for Reform (Dec. 2025)
Positive Credentials That Limit Risk: A Report on Certificates of Relief (June 2024)
Advancing Second Chances: Clean Slate and Other Record Reforms in 2023 (Jan. 2024)
Accessing SNAP and TANF Benefits after a Drug Conviction: A Survey of State Laws (Dec. 2023)
The Frontiers of Dignity:
Clean Slate and Other Criminal Record Reforms in 2022 (Jan. 2023)
Marijuana legalization and record clearing in 2022 (Dec. 2022)
The Reintegration Report Card (March 2022)
Waiting for Relief:
A National Survey of Waiting Periods for Record Clearing (Feb. 2022)
From Reentry to Reintegration:
Criminal Record Reforms in 2021 (Jan. 2022)
Access Barriers to Felony Expungement in Utah
(July 2021)
Access Barriers to Felony Expungement: The Case of Illinois (Feb. 2021)
The Reintegration Agenda During Pandemic:
Criminal Record Reforms in 2020 (Jan. 2021)
Who Must Pay to Regain the Vote?
A 50-State Survey (Nov. 2020)
The Reintegration Report Card
Grading the States on Laws Restoring Rights and Opportunities After Arrest or Conviction (Oct. 2020)
Pathways to Reintegration
Criminal Record Reforms in 2019 (Feb. 2020)
Model Law on Non-Conviction Records
(Dec. 2019)
Reducing Barriers to Reintegration
(Dec. 2019)
Second Chance Reforms in 2017
Roundup of new expungement and restoration laws
Other reports
Ban the Box: U.S. Cities, Counties, and States Adopt Fair Hiring Policies
Continuously updated report by the National Employment Law Project
Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment among formerly incarcerated people
2018 report by Lucius Couloute & Daniel Kopf, Prison Policy Initiative
Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people
2018 report by Lucius Couloute, Prison Policy Initiative
Getting Back on Course: Educational attainment and exclusion among formerly incarcerated people
2018 report by Lucius Couloute, Prison Policy Initiative
Repairing the Road to Redemption in California
2018 report by Californians for Safety and Justice
Does a Criminal Past Predict Worker Performance? Evidence from One of America’s Largest Employers
2017 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office
Criminal Background Checks and Access to Jobs: A Case Study of Washington, DC
2017 report by the Urban Institute
Criminal Background Checks: Impact on Employment and Recidivism
2017 report by the Urban Institute
Back to Business: How Hiring Formerly Incarcerated Job Seekers Benefits Your Company
2017 report by the American Civil Liberties Union
Ban the Box and Racial Discrimination: A Review of the Evidence and Policy Recommendations
2017 report by the Urban Institute
Fair Chance Licensing Reform: Opening Pathways for People with Records to Join Licensed Professions
2017 report by the National Employment Law Project
Collateral Consequences: Protecting Public Safety or Encouraging Recidivism?
2017 report by the Heritage Foundation
2016 report by Stephen Slivinski, Center for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University
2016 report by the Joshua Aiken, Prison Policy Initiative
2016 report by National H.I.R.E. Network
2016 report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research
Putting Time Limits on the Punitiveness of the Criminal Justice System
2016 policy memo by Anne Morrison Piehl of The Hamilton Project
Disenfranchised by Debt: Millions Impoverished by Prison, Blocked from Voting
2016 report by Alliance for a Just Society
6 Million Lost Voters: State-Level Estimates of Felony Disenfranchisement, 2016
2016 report by the Sentencing Project
Racial Profiling in Hiring: A Critique of New “Ban the Box” Studies
2016 policy brief by the National Employment Law Project
Ensuring Fairness in Background Checks for On-Demand Work
2016 policy brief by the National Employment Law Project
Justice in Review: New Trends in State Sentencing and Corrections 2014 – 2015
2016 report by the Vera Institute of Justice discussing collateral consequence relief mechanisms.
Beyond the Box: Increasing Access to Higher Education for Justice-Involved Individuals
2016 report by the U.S. Department of Education
2016 report by the National Employment Law Project
Future Interrupted: The Collateral Damage Caused by Proliferation of Juvenile Records
2016 report by the Juvenile Law Center
Jobs After Jail: Ending the prison to poverty pipeline
2016 report by the Alliance for a Just Society
2015 report by the Center for American Progress
Boxed Out: Criminal History Screening and College Application Attrition
2015 report by the Center for Community Alternatives in cooperation with the Education from the Inside Out Coalition
The State of Sentencing 2014: Developments in Policy and Practice
2015 report by The Sentencing Project
2015 report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP)
National Summit on Collateral Consequences – Conference Report
2015 report by the ABA Criminal Justice Section
Report of House Judiciary Committee hearing on collateral consequences
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Over-Criminalization Task Force (2014)
2014 report of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
2014 report by Rebecca Vallas and Sharon Dietrich published by the Center for American Progress
Relief in Sight? States Rethink the Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction, 2009 – 2014
2014 report by The Vera Institute of Justice
Failed Policies, Forfeited Futures: A Nationwide Scorecard on Juvenile Records
2014 report on expungement and confidentiality from the Juvenile Law Center
Juvenile Records: A National Review of State Laws on Confidentiality, Sealing, and Expungement
2014 report from the Juvenile Law Center
2013 report by Human Rights Watch
65 Million “Need Not Apply”: The Case for Reforming Criminal Background Checks for Employment
2011 report by Michelle Natividad Rodriguez & Maurice Emsellem, National Employment Law Project
The Use of Criminal Records in College Admissions Reconsidered
2010 report of the Center for Community Alternatives
Second Chances in the Criminal Justice System: Alternatives to Incarceration and Reentry Strategies
2008 report by the ABA Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions
NO SECOND CHANCE: People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing
2004 report by Corinne Carey for Human Rights Watch
>> See also Compilations & inventories of collateral consequences <<
Related blog posts:
- Update on federal firearms restoration program (11/4/2025) - Last spring, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its intention to revive a long-dormant program to remove federal restrictions on firearm possession, including for those with a criminal record. In July DOJ published for comment a proposed rule that would, when finalized, accomplish this for people who are determined to pose no public safety risk. See 18 U.S.C. § 925(c). See Trump’s Justice Department aims to restore gun rights for nonviolent offenders. The comment period closed on October 20, and it is therefore possible that a final rule will be published at any time to launch the revived program. This will open the door, for the first time in more than 30 years, to many individuals who have been unable to regain their firearm rights because of their criminal record. It is anticipated that thousands of people will want to apply for this relief, which will be administered by the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. We have some concerns about whether the demanding § 925(c) application process described in the proposed rule will deliver on its promise. For example, the document production requirements may be challenging for many people, especially those with dated minor convictions. See proposed 28 [...]
- New report: Most states restrict firearm rights too broadly and make restoration difficult (6/6/2025) - Most states restrict firearm rights too broadly and make restoration difficult, in potential violation of the Second Amendment, according to new report FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 5, 2025 Media Contact: Margaret Love Margaretlove@pardonlaw.com Loss of firearm rights after a felony conviction extends well beyond what is necessary to advance public safety objectives, according to a study released today by the Collateral Consequences Resource Center. The loss of rights is permanent in most states, and under federal law. The study shows that each state operates under its own complex legal framework with overlapping federal requirements that create the possibility of further criminal jeopardy for inadvertent violations. Only 13 states limit dispossession to violent crimes, and more than two-thirds of the states offer no route to firearm relief to residents convicted in another state or in federal court. Only 16 states provide a way to regain lost rights that is easily accessible to all state residents. CCRC’s report, Restoration of Firearm Rights After Conviction: A National Survey and Suggestions for Reform, offers a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the differing ways states restrict and restore the right to possess a firearm, including relevant sections of statutory text to [...]
- New report: Most states restrict firearm rights too broadly and make restoration difficult (6/5/2025) - Most states restrict firearm rights too broadly and make restoration difficult, in potential violation of the Second Amendment, according to new report FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 5, 2025 Media Contact: Margaret Love Margaretlove@pardonlaw.com Loss of firearm rights after a felony conviction extends well beyond what is necessary to advance public safety objectives, according to a study released today by the Collateral Consequences Resource Center. The loss of rights is permanent in most states, and under federal law. The study shows that each state operates under its own complex legal framework with overlapping federal requirements that create the possibility of further criminal jeopardy for inadvertent violations. Only 13 states limit dispossession to violent crimes, and more than two-thirds of the states offer no route to firearm relief to residents convicted in another state or in federal court. Only 16 states provide a way to regain lost rights that is easily accessible to all state residents. CCRC’s report, Restoration of Firearm Rights After Conviction: A National Survey and Suggestions for Reform, offers a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the differing ways states restrict and restore the right to possess a firearm, including relevant sections of statutory text to [...]
- “Positive Credentials That Limit Risk: A Report on Certificates of Relief” (6/27/2024) - We are pleased to present a new report dealing with “certificates of relief,” a form of relief from the collateral consequences of conviction that is less far-reaching than record clearing but potentially available to more people at an earlier point in time. These certificates, offered by a court or correctional agency, do not limit public access to a person’s record but are effective in reducing many record-related disadvantages in the workplace, including by providing employers and others with protection against the risk of being sued for negligence. Positive Credentials That Limit Risk: A Report on Certificates of Relief makes the case that, at least as long as expungement and sealing remain unavailable to many people with a felony conviction record, or are available only after lengthy waiting periods, certificates of relief can provide an important addition to a state’s reentry scheme, and serve as a bridge to more thorough forms of record relief like expungement or pardon. At the same time, in a promising development, certificates are beginning to be widely used by prison and parole agencies to encourage employment opportunities and otherwise facilitate reentry for those exiting prison or completing supervision. Given the perceived limits of record clearing as [...]
- Oklahoma and California win Reintegration Champion awards for 2022 laws (1/17/2023) - On January 10 we posted our annual report on new laws enacted in 2022 to restore rights and opportunities to people with a record of arrest or conviction. Like our earlier reports, it documents the steady progress of what we characterized two years ago as “a full-fledged law reform movement” aimed at restoring rights and dignity to individuals who have successfully navigated the criminal law system. This year’s criminal record reforms bring the total number of separate laws enacted in the past five years to more than 500. Posted below is our fourth annual legislative Report Card recognizing the most productive states in 2022. Reintegration Awards for 2022 While more than a handful of states enacted noteworthy laws in 2022, two states stand out for the quantity and quality of their legislation: California and Oklahoma share our 2022 Reintegration Champion award for their passage of at least two major pieces of record reform legislation. California – Enacted a whopping 11 new laws, including the broadest general record clearing law in the nation, a direction to courts to effectuate clearing of marijuana records, removal of restitution as a bar to clearing criminal records, easing access to judicial certificates of rehabilitation, and simplification [...]
- The Frontiers of Dignity: Clean Slate and Other Criminal Record Reforms in 2022 (1/10/2023) - At the beginning of each year since 2017, CCRC has issued a report on legislative enactments in the year just ended, new laws aimed at reducing the barriers faced by people with a criminal record in the workplace, at the ballot box, and in many other areas of daily life. These annual reports document the steady progress of what our report two years ago characterized as “a full-fledged law reform movement” aimed at restoring rights and dignity to individuals who have successfully navigated the criminal law system. In the three years between 2019 and 2021, more than 400 new criminal record reforms were enacted. Many states enacted new laws every year, and all but two states enacted at least one significant new law during this period. The modern record reform movement reflected in our annual reports is bipartisan, grounded in and inspired by the circumstance that almost a third of adults in the United States now have a criminal record, entangling them in a web of legal restrictions and discrimination that permanently excludes then from full participation in the community. It reflects a public recognition that the “internal exile” of such a significant portion of society is not only unsafe [...]
- Marijuana legalization and record clearing in 2022 (12/20/2022) - CCRC is pleased to announce a new report on recent cannabis-specific record sealing and expungement reforms in the past 18 months. The report, extending CCRC’s fruitful collaboration with the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University, is available here. An accompanying infographic (reproduced at the end of this postr) summarizes the report’s findings, and includes a color-coded US map showing which states have enacted cannabis-specific record-clearing provisions. To supplement the map, the report includes an appendix classifying and describing marijuana-specific record clearing statutes in all 50 states, based on CCRC’s 50-state comparison chart on “Marijuana Legalization, Decriminalization, Expungement and Clemency.” To put our new report in context, CCRC and DEPC reported 18 months ago on an “unprecedented period for policymaking at the intersection of marijuana legalization and criminal record reform in the first months of 2021,” with four states (New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia) legalizing marijuana possession and at the same time providing criminal record relief for past convictions along with a variety of social equity provisions. Our report shows this trend continuing into 2022. Since our 2021 report, four additional states (Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, and Rhode Island) have adopted similar record-clearing provisions in [...]
- “The Many Roads From Reentry to Reintegration” (3/3/2022) - We are pleased to publish the March 2022 revision of our national survey of laws restoring rights and opportunities after arrest or conviction, “The Many Roads from Reentry to Reintegration.“ Like the earlier report, this report contains a series of essays on various relief mechanisms operating in the states, including legislative restoration of voting and firearms rights, various types of criminal record relief (expungement and sealing, pardon, judicial certificates), and laws limiting consideration of criminal record in fair employment and occupational licensing. Drawing on material from CCRC’s flagship resource the Restoration of Rights Project, the report grades each state for the scope and efficacy of its laws in nine different relief categories. Based on these grades, it compiles an overall ranking of the states. As described below, most of the states identified as reform leaders in our 2020 report still rank highly, but several new states have joined them. Half a dozen other states made substantial improvements in their ranking by virtue of progressive legislation enacted in 2020 and 2021, in two cases (D.C. and Virginia) rising from the bottom ten to the top 20. The legal landscape has been changing rapidly in the 18 months since the first edition [...]
- Judicial Diversion and Deferred Adjudication: A National Survey (3/1/2022) - *Update (3/3/22): the full national report, “The Many Roads from Reentry to Reintegration,” is now available. Last week we announced the forthcoming publication of a national report surveying various legal mechanisms for restoring rights and opportunities following arrest or conviction, a revision and updating of our 2020 report “The Many Roads to Reintegration.” The first post in the series (“Expungement, Sealing & Set-Aside of Convictions“), published on February 25, gives some additional background about the report. The second post in this “preview” series (“Fair Chance Employment & Occupational Licensure“) was published on February 26. The third part (“Executive Pardon“) was published on February 28. Today’s post concerns the role that court-managed diversionary dispositions play in reducing convictions and avoiding collateral consequences. Since our first national report was published in 2018, many states have expanded the availability of these non-conviction dispositions, including for any defendant potentially eligible for a probationary sentence, and made record clearing more generally available. We expect to publish the whole national report, plus our Reintegration Report Card for 2022, later this week. Judicial Diversion and Deferred Adjudication: A National Survey An increasingly desirable strategy for facilitating reintegration through avoiding collateral consequences is to divert individuals away from [...]
- Executive Pardon: A National Survey (2/28/2022) - Last week we announced the forthcoming publication of a national report surveying various legal mechanisms for restoring rights and opportunities following arrest or conviction, a revision and updating of our 2020 report “The Many Roads to Reintegration.” The first post in the series (“Expungement, Sealing & Set-Aside of Convictions“), published on February 25, gives some additional background about the report. The second post in this “preview” series (“Fair Chance Employment & Occupational Licensure“) was published on February 26. Today’s post concerns the role that executive pardon plays in supplementing and in some cases providing the only record relief following conviction. We expect to publish the whole national report, plus our Reintegration Report Card for 2022, later this week. ******* Executive Pardon: A National Survey Pardon has been described as the patriarch of restoration mechanisms, whose roots in America are directly traceable to the power of the English crown. Just as a power to pardon was assigned to the president in Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the constitution of every state save two provides for an executive pardoning power.[1] Both in theory and practice, pardon is the ultimate expression of forgiveness and reconciliation from the sovereign that secured the conviction. [...]
- Fair Chance Employment and Occupational Licensure: A National Survey (2/25/2022) - Yesterday we announced the forthcoming publication of a national report surveying various legal mechanisms for restoring rights and opportunities following arrest or conviction, a revision and updating of our 2020 report “The Many Roads to Reintegration.” The first post in the series (“Expungement, Sealing & Set-Aside of Convictions“) gives some additional background about the report. This second post in this “preview” series deals with how the law regulates consideration of criminal history in employment and occupational licensing. We expect to publish the whole report, plus our Reintegration Report Card for 2022, early next week. Fair Chance Employment & Occupational Licensing Introduction There is perhaps no more critical aspect of a reintegration agenda than removing the many unjustified and unjustifiable barriers faced by people with a criminal record in the workplace.[1] In an era of near-universal background checking and search engines, the “Mark of Cain” these individuals bear will sooner or later be known to potential employers and licensing boards even if criminal record information is not requested on an initial application. Some barriers take the form of laws formally disqualifying people with certain types of convictions from certain types of jobs or licenses. More frequently, barriers result from informal discrimination [...]
- Waiting for Relief: A National Survey of Waiting Periods for Record Clearing (2/23/2022) - Our new report is the first-ever comprehensive national survey of the period of time a person, who is otherwise eligible to expunge or seal a misdemeanor or felony conviction record, must wait before obtaining this relief. Waiting periods are usually established by statute and can range from 0 to 20 years. Typically, during a waiting period the person must be free from certain forms of involvement with the justice system: from a felony conviction, from any conviction, or from any arrest, again depending on state law. These and other conditions and circumstances may extend (or occasionally shorten) the length of a waiting period in specific cases. Waiting for Relief: A National Survey of Waiting Periods for Record Clearing The waiting periods for misdemeanor convictions range from a high of 10 or 15 years in Maryland (depending on the nature of the offense) to 0 years in Mississippi (although only first-time offenses are eligible), with most states falling at the lower end of that range. Of the 44 states that authorize clearing of misdemeanor convictions, a near-majority have waiting periods of 3 years or less (19 states) and the vast majority have waiting periods of 5 years or less (35 states). [...]
- “The High Cost of a Fresh Start” (2/14/2022) - The High Cost of a Fresh Start: New Report Examines Court Debt as a Barrier to Clearing a Conviction Record BOSTON – A new report from the National Consumer Law Center and the Collateral Consequences Resource Center explores the extent to which court debt—such as criminal fines, fees, costs, and restitution—is a barrier to record clearing that prevents poor and low-income people from getting a second chance. For the nearly one-third of adults in the U.S. with a record of arrest or conviction, their record is not simply part of their past but a continuing condition that impacts nearly every aspect of their life. Their record makes it hard to get a job and support a family, secure a place to live, contribute to the community, and participate fully in civic affairs. “Criminal record clearing must not be reserved only for those who can easily pay for it,” said Margaret Love, executive director of CCRC. “States should ensure people are not being priced out of a chance at a fresh start.” The High Cost of a Fresh Start: A State-by-State Analysis of Court Debt as a Bar to Record Clearing analyzes whether outstanding court debt bars record clearing under the laws of each of the 50 [...]
- CFPB documents the financial burdens imposed on justice-involved individuals (2/2/2022) - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has just issued an extraordinary new report on the financial challenges faced by justice-involved individuals in navigating each stage of the criminal justice system. The report, which describes itself as “the first of its kind done by the CFPB,” paints a devastating picture of how the criminal law enforcement system conspires at every step to exacerbate the financially precarious situation in which many entering the justice system already find themselves. “Justice-Involved Individuals and the Consumer Financial Marketplace” documents in clear and compelling prose how the financial products and services marketed to individuals and families entangled in the criminal justice system “too often contain exploitative terms and features, offer little or no consumer choice, and can have long-term negative consequences for the individuals and families affected.” What the CFPB researchers found “raises serious questions about the transparency, fairness, and availability of consumer choice in markets associated with the justice system, as well as demonstrating the pervasive reach of predatory practices targeted at justice-involved individuals.” About the Author Latest Posts CCRC StaffEditorial staff of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center Update on federal firearms restoration program - November 4, 2025Virginia enacts significant record reforms in 2025 - June [...]
- Reintegration Champion Awards for 2021 (1/27/2022) - Based on our annual report on 2021 criminal record reforms, the bipartisan commitment to a reintegration agenda keeps getting stronger. A majority of the 151 new laws enacted last year authorize courts to clear criminal records, in some states for the very first time, and several states enacted “clean slate” automatic record clearing. Other new laws restore voting and other civil rights lost as a result of conviction, and still others limit how criminal record is considered by employers, occupational licensing agencies, and landlords. (The report includes specific citations to each of the new laws, and they are analyzed in the larger context of each state’s reintegration scheme in our Restoration of Rights Project.) Again this year we have published a Report Card recognizing the most (and least) productive legislatures in the past year. While more than a dozen states enacted noteworthy laws in 2021, two states stand out for the quantity and quality of their lawmaking: Arizona and Connecticut share our 2021 Reintegration Champion award for their passage of three or more major pieces of record reform legislation. Arizona – The state enacted eight new laws, including a broad new record clearing law, two laws improving its occupational licensing [...]
- “From Reentry to Reintegration: Criminal Record Reforms in 2021” (1/24/2022) - At the beginning of each year since 2017, CCRC has issued a report on legislation enacted in the past year that is aimed at reducing the barriers faced by people with a criminal record in the workplace, at the ballot box, and in many other areas of daily life. These reports have documented the steady progress of what last year’s report characterized as “a full-fledged law reform movement” aimed at restoring rights and status to individuals who have successfully navigated the criminal law system. The legislative momentum, which slowed a bit during the first year of the pandemic, picked up again in 2021. The title of this post introduces our annual report on new laws enacted during the past year, and emphasizes the continuum from reentry (for those who go to jail or prison) to the full restoration of rights and status represented by reintegration. Recent research indicates that most people with a conviction never have a second one, and that the likelihood of another conviction declines rapidly as more time passes. The goal of full reintegration is thus both an economic and moral imperative. In the past year the bipartisan commitment to a reintegration agenda has seemed more than [...]
- A radical new approach to measuring recidivism risk (1/12/2022) - NOTE: This post has been updated as of 4/2 to incorporate additional research. Researchers at the RAND Corporation have proposed a radical new approach to measuring recidivism risk that raises questions about decades of received truth about the prevalence of reoffending after people leave prison. At least since the 1990s, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has measured risk of recidivism at the time of a person’s last interaction with the justice system, when the statistical cohort includes many who are frequent participants in the criminal system as well as those for whom it is a one-time affair. As a result, employers and others tend to interpret background checks as overstating the risk posed by someone who in fact may have been living in the community for years without criminal incident, and is unlikely to become criminally involved again. In Providing Another Chance: Resetting Recidivism Risk in Criminal Background Checks, Shawn Bushway and his RAND colleagues argue that risk should instead be measured at the time a background check is conducted, after an individual has had an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to reintegrate lawfully as well as their propensity to reoffend. They label this the “reset principle,” and argue that this [...]
- CCRC’s First Newsletter (9/28/2021) - Dear Subscribers, We write with an update on our continued work to promote public discussion of restoration of rights and opportunities for people with a record. Highlights from this year’s work are summarized below, including roundups of new legislation, case studies on barriers to expungement, policy recommendations, and a new “fair chance lending” project to reduce criminal history barriers to government-supported loans to small businesses. We thank you for your interest and invite your comments as our work progresses.
- Reintegration reform returns to pre-pandemic levels in first half of 2021 (7/23/2021) - This year is proving to be a landmark one for legislation restoring rights and opportunities to people with a criminal record, extending the remarkable era of “reintegration reform” that began around 2013. Just in the past six months, 30 states and the District of Columbia have enacted an extraordinary 101 new laws to mitigate collateral consequences. Six more bills await a governor’s signature. It appears that legislative momentum in support of facilitating reintegration has returned to the pre-pandemic pace of 2019. Overall, the past 30 months have produced an astonishing total of 361 laws aimed at neutralizing the adverse effect of a criminal record, plus more than a dozen additional executive actions and ballot initiatives. About the Author Latest Posts CCRC StaffEditorial staff of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center Update on federal firearms restoration program - November 4, 2025Virginia enacts significant record reforms in 2025 - June 30, 2025New information about revived federal firearm restoration process - June 18, 2025New report: Most states restrict firearm rights too broadly and make restoration difficult - June 6, 2025New report: Most states restrict firearm rights too broadly and make restoration difficult - June 5, 2025Study: Texas diversion provides dramatic benefits for people facing [...]
- Study reveals potential for racial bias in presidential pardon process (6/24/2021) - Last week the RAND Corporation published its long-awaited Statistical Analysis of Presidential Pardons, commissioned in 2012 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to determine whether the Justice Department process for deciding who to recommend for a presidential pardon is tainted with “systematic” racial bias. The RAND study appears to have been a direct response to an investigative report published jointly in December 2011 by ProPublica and the Washington Post, which concluded based on an examination of pardon cases granted and denied during the administration of George W. Bush, that race was “one of the strongest predictors of a pardon.” Specifically, the ProPublica study concluded that “White criminals seeking presidential pardons over the past decade have been nearly four times as likely to succeed as minorities” while “Blacks have had the poorest chance” of receiving a pardon. In a 224-page statistical analysis of how pardon petitions were evaluated by the Office of the Pardon Attorney (OPA) between 2001 and 2012, the RAND researchers “[did] not find statistically significant evidence that there are racial differences in the rates at which black and white petitioners receive [favorable] pardon recommendations.” (Note that sentence commutations were not a part of the RAND study.) At the [...]