Last week, the Maryland Senate passed the Clean Slate Act, a bill that would make the state’s criminal justice system fairer while streamlining government and strengthening the workforce. If enacted, the law would automatically limit public access to some lower-level criminal records, a process the state calls “shielding.” (Other states use the term “sealing.”) That could make it easier for Marylanders with years-old conviction histories to find jobs and housing and contribute to their communities. The bill now goes to the Maryland House of Delegates for consideration.
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted similar laws, automating a process that provides meaningful second chances for people with criminal records. These laws capitalize on promising research showing how limiting access to criminal records improves lives and potentially reduces the chance of new convictions by helping people secure employment and housing.
Clean slate laws developed out of a growing awareness of the significant barriers that people with criminal records face to participating in society — and the effects of those barriers on the economy and public safety. Years and even decades after conviction, criminal records can limit access to housing, jobs, professional licenses, and any number of other necessities.
Research underscores these challenges. A 2020 Brennan Center report showed that criminal conviction records sharply reduce earning potential long after a person’s sentence concludes. Similarly, a 2022 study evaluating state-by-state effects showed that an increase in a state’s share of adults with felony records predicted a drop in the state’s workforce. To help address these issues, 38 states — including Maryland — and DC have created some mechanism to limit access to criminal records.
But Maryland’s existing law falls short in a few critical ways. According to the Paper Prisons Initiative — a team of researchers that highlights the impacts of criminal records and the benefits of sealing them — around 500,000 Marylanders have criminal conviction records. Marylanders who feel their conviction history is holding them back from opportunities have two options for changing how and when those records show up on a background check.
One option is shielding, which limits access to conviction records in most situations, but it applies only to public order offenses, such as disorderly conduct, driving while uninsured, and drug possession. The other option is expungement, which has a longer waiting period but goes beyond shielding to make records inaccessible in all cases, except by court order. It also applies to a broader set of offenses — nearly all those eligible for shielding, plus some misdemeanors and felonies. Both require applicants to file a petition with the court and have a judge review their case.
But filing a petition can be costly and time-consuming, and data on expungements in Maryland suggests these processes are not as smooth or accessible as they should be. For example, only 2 percent of those eligible to have a conviction expunged have been able to take advantage of the opportunity. Reviewing petitions can also take up valuable court time and create bottlenecks when not enough judges are available to review them. The Paper Prisons Initiative further estimates that expunging all eligible records under Maryland’s existing procedures would take 86 years. In the meantime, the state and its people lose out on an estimated $1.5 billion in total earnings each year from the economic impact of conviction records eligible for expungement.
The Maryland Clean Slate Act would address this problem by creating an automated system to shield conviction records from public view as soon as someone becomes eligible to file an expungement petition. This new automated system would incorporate existing eligibility criteria and waiting periods that are already set by state law for petition-based expungement. As such, it would apply mostly to misdemeanor conviction records, such as those for theft or destruction of property, as well as a short list of felonies, including some drug offenses. Eligible convictions would be shielded from public view as soon as five years after a case concludes, but longer for the few eligible felonies and other types of cases. Law enforcement would retain access to shielded records, as would some employers and licensing agencies, just as under current law.
Negotiating the details of a clean slate law can be challenging, requiring lawmakers to weigh concerns from many different constituencies. We documented some of these dynamics in a study of how New York passed its own clean slate law. But we also found, as have other researchers, that these laws can succeed by bringing together large and diverse coalitions. The New York coalition, for example, included legal services organizations, community leaders with criminal records, and Fortune 500 companies, working closely with lawmakers to develop and refine a bill that could withstand the tests of the legislative process.
A similar dynamic is emerging in Maryland. During recent hearings in the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates, legislators heard testimony in support of the Clean Slate Act from the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore, JPMorgan Chase, attorneys, people with criminal records, and business leaders. The Responsible Business Institute for Justice testified that “Clean Slate will give employers the opportunity to recruit from an underutilized talent pool while making Maryland a safer and more prosperous place.” The Maryland Chamber of Commerce, which also endorsed the bill, argued that the law would boost the state’s economy by ensuring “consumers have more earning power.”
A growing body of research demonstrates that clean slate laws can help people reenter the workforce and find better jobs. One widely cited study showed that people who successfully petitioned to seal their criminal records in Michigan saw a jump in both employment and earnings. Automation can accelerate this process and potentially make it available to others who could benefit similarly. Surveys of people in states with clean slate laws point to significant improvements in economic wellbeing and housing. While more research is needed to understand how these laws could be improved, the early findings are promising enough to justify proponents’ hopes — and to persuade lawmakers that the idea merits attention.
Clean slate laws can pass, be successfully implemented, and change lives. That is the lesson of an increasingly diverse set of states, from Utah and Oklahoma to Michigan and California, that have reduced barriers to participation in society for people with convictions. Maryland should join in this important work.
