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:

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 [...]
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 [...]
Restoration of voting and other civil rights in 2021 (7/8/2021) - Voting rights In the first half of 2021, three states enacted laws authorizing automatic restoration of the vote to anyone not actually incarcerated for a felony, and a fourth state did so through executive order, while beginning the process of amending its constitution to accomplish this result. New York and Connecticut repealed provisions disenfranchising anyone on parole, while Washington restored [...]
“After Trump: The Future of the President’s Pardon Power” (7/4/2021) - This is the title of the new issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, which is now available online. As explained by the FSR editors in the issue’s introduction, FSR is continuing its tradition of exploring each president’s pardoning practices at the end of their term: This Issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter shines a light on the state of clemency today, with [...]
Oregon’s expungement statute gets a much-needed overhaul (6/25/2021) - – Following George Floyd’s murder, NIKE and Metropolitan Public Defender, Oregon’s largest trial-level public defense service provider, became unlikely partners to improve Oregon’s expungement statute. Oregon has allowed expungement of certain criminal records since 1972, but the law and process are so complicated and costly that only 5.5% of eligible residents ultimately obtain relief. The statute is replete with exceptions, [...]
People with records excluded from growing occupations (4/23/2021) - People with arrest and conviction records continue to demand that employers and policymakers remove unfair barriers to work. Their demands have spurred much-needed legislative change, including “fair chance licensing” laws that reform restrictions on working in occupations requiring a government license or certification. Such changes are crucial to achieving racial equity. Decades of biased policing and charging have left Black [...]
Second Chance Month: A Federal Reintegration Agenda (4/5/2021) - In 2017, Prison Fellowship declared April Second Chance Month for the first time. The designation has since gained support from Congress, the White House, state and local bodies, and nongovernmental organizations, as an opportunity to raise awareness about the collateral consequences of arrest or conviction along with the importance of providing second-chance opportunities for people with a record to reintegrate [...]
DC’s non-conviction sealing law is uniquely complex and restrictive (3/30/2021) - Last year, 20 states enacted reforms expanding access to expungement, record-sealing, and other forms of record relief. Many legislatures, including the District of Columbia Council, are considering reform proposals this session. Given the progressive steps taken by the District in the past year to expand opportunities for people with a criminal record to vote and obtain occupational licensing, we are [...]
Study measures gap between availability and delivery of “second chance” relief (3/19/2021) - Professor Colleen V. Chien of Santa Clara University has published a major empirical study in the Michigan Law Review that examines the gap between eligibility for and actual delivery of relief from contact with the criminal justice system, a construct she calls the “second chance gap.” (The term is defined with examples here.) Last week, Chien led a team of [...]
President Biden orders DOJ to facilitate voting for people in federal custody or under supervision (3/12/2021) - On election day in 2016, Crystal Mason, a Texas mother of three, cast a provisional ballot. She was unaware that Texas considered her ineligible to vote because she was on federal supervised release at the time. Six months later she was arrested. A year and a half later, she was convicted of voter fraud and sentenced to five years in [...]
Virginia poised to enact “transformative” record clearance law (3/8/2021) - Editor’s Note: We are delighted to post a description of the broad new record relief bill now awaiting Governor Northam’s signature, by an attorney-advocate who was actively involved in the campaign to secure its passage. Rob Poggenklass describes the ambitious new law and how it came to be enacted, as well as likely next steps for record clearance in a [...]
Illinois set to become fifth state to cover criminal record discrimination in its fair employment law (2/13/2021) - In our recent report on criminal record reforms enacted in 2020, we noted that there were only four states that had fully incorporated criminal record into their fair employment law as a prohibited basis of discrimination. These states (New York, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and California) provide that employers can only disqualify a person based on their record if it meets a [...]
Momentum grows to restore voting rights to people with a felony (2/3/2021) - Our new report on 2020 legislative reforms shows continued progress in state efforts to expand voting rights for people with a felony conviction. Despite a courtroom setback at the Eleventh Circuit, where a federal appeals court ruled that Florida’s landmark 2018 felony re-enfranchisement initiative does not restore the vote to people who owe court debt, two additional states and D.C. [...]
New Jersey Launches Electronic Filing System for Expungements (1/28/2021) - Editor’s note: In 2019, New Jersey enacted a “clean slate” expungement authority that will eventually be automatic and is now available by petition. The same law directed the development of an e-filing system that is expected to eliminate many access barriers in the existing petition-based process. A detailed description of New Jersey’s expungement authorities, including its new “clean slate” law, [...]
Are Trump’s Pardons a Blessing in Disguise? (12/30/2020) - The title of this post is the title of my piece in Lawfare arguing that, in response to President Trump’s reckless pardoning, Congress should reroute many of pardon’s routine functions into the federal courts. The piece is reprinted below: Are Trump’s Pardons a Blessing in Disguise? As President Trump’s irregular and self-serving pardons roll out, incoming President Biden has been urged [...]
Marijuana expungement accelerates across the country (11/20/2020) - In November’s election, four more states legalized marijuana at the ballot box: Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota. The measures in Arizona and Montana included provisions for expunging the record of convictions for certain marijuana arrests or convictions. During this year’s presidential campaign, President-elect Joseph R. Biden called for decriminalizing marijuana use and automatically expunging all marijuana use convictions. [...]
Federal Certificate Offers New Hope for Americans in ‘Internal Exile’ (10/28/2020) - The title of this post is the title of our op-ed in The Crime Report in support of a bipartisan Senate bill that would authorize judges to issue a “Certificate of Rehabilitation” to qualified individuals with federal convictions. The bill in question was included in the Business Roundtable’s “Second Chance Agenda,” which was the subject of a post here two [...]
Business community endorses broad second-chance agenda (10/16/2020) - The Business Roundtable, which represents the CEOs of major U.S. companies, yesterday issued corporate and public policy recommendations to advance racial equity and justice in the wake of 2020’s triple crises disproportionately impacting communities of color: pandemic, recession, and protests in response to police violence. The policy recommendations have six themes: employment, finance, education, health, housing, and the justice system. [...]
The Reintegration Report Card (10/6/2020) - We are pleased to publish “The Reintegration Report Card,” a new resource that ranks and grades all 50 states on how their laws address voting rights, record relief (including expungement and pardon), fair employment, and occupational licensing for people with a criminal record. This Report Card supplements our recent 50-state report, “The Many Roads to Reintegration.” That report surveys U.S. [...]