Connecticut-Pardon

Pardons are issued pursuant to a formal process by an independent board appointed by governor.  The board also issues lesser relief styled a “provisional pardon” or “certificate of rehabilitation.”  A person is eligible to apply for pardon five years after completion of sentence for felonies, after three years for misdemeanors.  A public hearing is required for more serious offenses, but since 2015 an expedited process has dispensed with the requirement of a hearing for about 2/3 of those that apply and are eligible.  A pardon relieves all legal disabilities, and it results in erasure of the record. In turn, erasure results in destruction of the record after three years, after which the conviction has no predicate effect.  Certificates of rehabilitation (sometimes styled certificates of employability) are available at any time after sentencing to remove mandatory bars to certain employment or licenses, and they are available to individuals with out-of-state and federal convictions.  Pardons are frequent and the process regular: the overall pardon grant rate for those who are eligible has increased in the past five years from under 50% in 2013 to over 75% in 2018.