A fresh start: Bill to expunge some offenses makes sense

8-12-2012 Pennsylvania:

People deserve a second chance.

That is at the heart of legislation that would give thousands of Pennsylvanians convicted of low-level offenses and unable to get a job, a way to have their criminal records expunged and lives renewed.

State Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Washington County, has introduced Senate Bill 1220, which would create a system for expunging the records of those who are convicted of crimes such as check fraud, drug possession and other nonviolent misdemeanors.

His legislation gives judges the ability to remove from public view records of third-degree convictions for anyone who has been arrest-free for at least seven years and second-degree offenses committed by anyone who has gone 10 years without an arrest.

Our current system allows only expungement of records for those offenses once a person reaches age 70 who has not been arrested for 10 years or after someone has been dead for three years.

In an age when background checks that can go back decades are commonplace for employers, colleges, landlords and the military, people with these permanent black marks find it extremely difficult to get a job, let alone get ahead.

Studies show that a growing number of employers, especially large corporations, do background checks on prospective employees, and many have zero tolerance for any conviction they find — even if it goes back 20 years or more with no further run-ins with the law.

This inability to shake the past could be a big reason Pennsylvania has a 55 percent incarceration recidivism rate in the first five years after someone’s released from prison.

This is an apt time to take up the measure since state officials have been heavily invested in finding ways to reduce recidivism and control the ever-increasing costs of our criminal justice system. This legislation could go a long way toward making lasting changes that would accomplish both.

The bill has the bipartisan support it deserves, and expungement of low-level crimes is something attorney general candidates, Republican Dave Freed and Democrat Kathleen Kane, say they support with certain exceptions.

Clearly, there are criminal records of violent or repeat offenders that should continue to be in the public domain, along with convictions related to animal abuse and indecent assault. Solobay’s bill takes this into account.

Lawmakers should take up this legislation when they return to Harrisburg in September, and Gov. Tom Corbett, who has been reluctant in supporting it, should consider the lives it would change.

People who make mistakes and are charged with second- and third-degree misdemeanors should pay for their crimes, but they also should get the chance to move on. They deserve a second chance.

This bill makes financial sense for our state, which many times ends up paying a huge price when someone isn’t able to escape their past. ..Source.. by Patriot-News Editorial Board