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 to small business financing based on criminal history. The panelists were Sekwan Merritt, owner of an electrical contracting business in Baltimore, David Schlussel of CCRC, Awesta Sarkash of the Small Business Majority, and Chris Pilkerton, a former SBA general counsel…
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Model law proposes automatic expungement of non-conviction records
An advisory group drawn from across the criminal justice system has completed work on a model law that recommends automatic expungement of most arrests and charges that do not result in conviction. Margaret Love and David Schlussel of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center served as reporters for the model law. It is available in PDF and HTML formats. “Many people may not realize how even cases that terminate in a person’s favor lead to lost opportunities and discrimination,” says Sharon Dietrich, Litigation Director of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and one of the advisors of the model law project. “Over the…
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