Standards, policies and model laws

Criminal and juvenile records

Model Law on Non-Conviction Records (2019)

Model legislation with reporters from the Collateral Consequences Resource Center and an advisory group of lawyers, judicial officials, lawmakers, academics, policy experts, and advocates.

ABA Model Act Governing the Confidentiality and Expungement of Juvenile Delinquency Records (2015)

Model legislation from the American Bar Association

Collateral consequences

Model Penal Code: Sentencing, §§ 6.03, 6.04 (“Deferred Prosecution” and “Deferred Adjudication”) Article 7 (“Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction”) (2017)

Model legislation from the American Law Institute

Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act (2010)

Model legislation from the Uniform Law Commission

ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Collateral Sanctions and Discretionary Disqualification of Convicted Persons (2004)

Standards for attorneys and the judiciary published by the American Bar Association

Employment and occupational licensing

Model Collateral Consequences in Occupational Licensing Act (2018)

Model legislation from the Institute for Justice

Model State Law (Removing Barriers to State Occupational Licenses for People with Records) (2016)

Model Legislation from the National Employment Law Project

Best Practices and Model Fair-Chance Policies (including “ban the box”) (2015)

Model Legislation from the National Employment Law Project

Beyond the Box: Increasing Access to Higher Education for Justice-Involved Individuals (2016)

2016 report and guidance from the U.S. Department of Education

What Employment Background Screening Companies Need to Know About the Fair Credit Reporting Act (2016)

2016 guidance from the Federal Trade Commission

EEOC Enforcement Guidance (2012)

Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Housing

Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transactions (2016)

2016 guidance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Related blog posts:

SBA finalizes rule limiting consideration of criminal history in loan programs (4/30/2024) - Today, the Small Business Administration’s rule removing most criminal history restrictions in its federally guaranteed loan programs will be published in final form. This marks an important step in opening additional sources of business capital to justice-impacted entrepreneurs, and a boon to developing communities that thrive on the success of their small businesses. The final rule makes few changes from [...]
SBA takes one step toward fair chance lending, but needs to take another (9/7/2023) - The U.S. Small Bujsiness Administration has taken several recent steps that promise to make federally guaranteed loans available to business owners with a criminal history. This is an important policy issue we’ve been following for several years, and it appears there may at last be a breakthrough. How big a breakthrough remains to be seen. Following up on its omission [...]
Pending federal reforms promise support for justice-affected entrepreneurs (3/9/2023) - Word is getting around about pending reforms that would make federal support for small businesses more widely available to entrepreneurs with a criminal history. Notably, the U.S. Small Business Administration has recently taken steps to reduce or remove entirely criminal record-related restrictions in its loan and contracting programs. These are steps that CCRC has been urging ever since the SBA’s [...]
SBA proposes to ease criminal history restrictions in loan programs (1/19/2023) - On October 23, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration published for comment a rule that would significantly expand the availability of federally guaranteed loans to entrepreneurs with a criminal history. This rule, if finalized, could also transform the SBA’s role in support of urban community development. The proposed rule, titled ”Affiliation and Lending Criteria for the SBA Business Loan Programs,” [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Applying for federal disaster assistance with a criminal record (10/12/2022) - In addition to its lending and other programs in support of small businesses, the U.S. Small Business Administration provides long-term low-interest loans under Section 7(b) of the Small Business Act directly to individuals, businesses, and nonprofits in declared disaster areas. The current devastation wrought by Hurricane Ian in Florida — the subject of a dedicated new page on the SBA’s [...]
A closer look at racial disparities in California’s automatic record clearing (9/19/2022) - Numerous studies have demonstrated how Black Americans are treated more harshly at every stage of the criminal legal system—from over-policing to overcharging to more punitive sentencing. New research from California shows how eligibility limitations on criminal record relief perpetuate racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and have a disproportionately adverse effect on Black Americans. The study, by Alyssa Mooney, [...]
Oklahoma enacts automatic record clearing law (5/4/2022) - On May 2, 2022, Oklahoma Governor Stitt signed into law a comprehensive process making expungement automatic for all otherwise eligible misdemeanors and a range of non-conviction records. See HB 3316, enacting 22 Okla. Stat. Ann. § 18(C). Oklahoma thus becomes the tenth state to join the bipartisan trend toward broadening the availability of record clearing to people with convictions, without [...]
“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 [...]
“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 Download the report: https://ccresourcecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Report-High-Cost-of-Fresh-Start.pdf 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 [...]
When banks ask loan applicants about their arrest record (2/1/2022) - The National Community Reinvestment Coalition reports that its evaluation of small business loan applications from a sample of seven banks in Washington, DC revealed that “some lenders discriminate against applicants who have been charged at any time in their lives with a criminal offense.” A comment on the NCRC website proposes that these banks consider applicants to be “a lending [...]
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 [...]
VIDEO: Governmental Barriers to Small Business Financing for People with a Criminal History (11/23/2021) - On November 18, the Georgetown Center for Business & Public Policy hosted an informative and provocative forum on “Understanding Governmental Barriers to Small Business Financing for People With a Criminal History.” A video recording of the program is now available on YouTube. This event marks the first public discussion of our organization’s new initiative aimed at illuminating and reducing barriers [...]
Delaware governor signs automatic record-clearing law (11/10/2021) - Delaware lawmakers passed two bills this year that overhaul access to second chances, making it easier for more than 290,000 people to move beyond the collateral consequences of a criminal record. The two pieces of legislation – Senate Bill 111 and Senate Bill 112 – expand access to Delaware’s mandatory expungement process effective January 1, 2022, and make mandatory expungement [...]
National maps on expungement, pardoning, and voting rights restoration (10/8/2021) - The Collateral Consequences Resource Center is pleased to unveil six new maps that visualize the Center’s research on national laws and policies for restoring rights and opportunities to people with a record. These maps are now available below and on the 50-state comparison pages (expungement, sealing & other record relief; civil rights; and pardoning). Each state can be clicked for [...]
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 [...]
Arizona enacts its very first sealing law – and it’s impressive! (8/26/2021) - In July 2021, in an unheralded action in the final days of its legislative session, Arizona enacted a law that authorized its courts for the first time to seal conviction records. See SB1294, enacting Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-911. The same law authorized sealing of uncharged arrests and dismissed and acquitted charges, also for the first time. Prior to this enactment, [...]
Federal policies block loans to small business owners with a record (8/2/2021) - Starting a small business is increasingly recognized as a pathway to opportunity for individuals with an arrest or conviction history—particularly given the disadvantages they face in the labor market. An estimated 4% of small businesses in the United States have an owner with a conviction (1.5% have a felony conviction). Small businesses provide “a vital opportunity for those with a [...]