Expungement, Record Sealing, Pardons

Mele and Miller offer a timely, insightful analysis of the continuing challenges faced by ex-felons upon re-entry into society. Such penalties include a lifetime ban on receiving welfare and food stamps for individuals convicted of drug felonies as well as barriers to employment, child rearing, and housing opportunities. This much-needed work contains pieces by scholars in law, criminology, and sociology, including: Scott Christianson, Michael Lichter, and Daniel Kanstroom.

Winner, W. E. B. DuBois Distinguished Book Award presented by the National Conference of Black Political Scientists Examines the lifelong consequences of a felony conviction through the compelling words of former prisoners Felony convictions restrict social interactions and hinder felons' efforts to reintegrate into society. The educational and vocational training offered in many prisons are typically not recognized by accredited educational institutions as acceptable course work or by employers as valid work experience, making it difficult for recently-released prisoners to find jobs. Families often will not or cannot allow their formerly incarcerated relatives to live with them. In many states, those with felony convictions cannot receive financial aid for further education, vote in elections, receive welfare benefits, or live in public housing. In short, they are not treated as full citizens, and every year, hundreds of thousands of people released from prison are forced to live on the margins of society. Convicted and Condemned explores the issue of prisoner reentry from the felons' perspective. It features the voices of formerly incarcerated felons as they attempt to reconnect with family, learn how to acclimate to society, try to secure housing, find a job, and complete a host of other important goals. By examining national housing, education and employment policies implemented at the state and local levels, Keesha Middlemass shows how the law challenges and undermines prisoner reentry and creates second-class citizens. Even if the criminal justice system never convicted another person of a felony, millions of women and men would still have to figure out how to reenter society, essentially on their own. A sobering account of the after-effects of mass incarceration, Convicted and Condemned is a powerful exploration of how individuals, and society as a whole, suffer when a felony conviction exacts a punishment that never ends.

For 60 million Americans a criminal record overshadows everything else about their identity. Citizens have a right to know when someone around them represents a threat. But convicted persons have rights too. James Jacobs examines the problem of erroneous records and proposes ways to eliminate discrimination for those who have been rehabilitated.

On January 11, 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan--a Republican on record as saying that "some crimes are so horrendous . . . that society has a right to demand the ultimate penalty"--commuted the capital sentences of all 167 prisoners on his state's death row. Critics demonized Ryan. For opponents of capital punishment, however, Ryan became an instant hero whose decision was seen as a signal moment in the "new abolitionist" politics to end killing by the state. In this compelling and timely work, Austin Sarat provides the first book-length work on executive clemency. He turns our focus from questions of guilt and innocence to the very meaning of mercy. Starting from Ryan's controversial decision, Mercy on Trial uses the lens of executive clemency in capital cases to discuss the fraught condition of mercy in American political life. Most pointedly, Sarat argues that mercy itself is on trial. Although it has always had a problematic position as a form of "lawful lawlessness," it has come under much more intense popular pressure and criticism in recent decades. This has yielded a radical decline in the use of the power of chief executives to stop executions. From the history of capital clemency in the twentieth century to surrounding legal controversies and philosophical debates about when (if ever) mercy should be extended, Sarat examines the issue comprehensively. In the end, he acknowledges the risks associated with mercy--but, he argues, those risks are worth taking.

"As directed by the 132nd General Assembly through a measure enacted in June 2017, the Ohio Attorney General's Office is charged with reporting on its findings and recommendations regarding the pilot program comprised of the provisions of Ohio Revised Code (ORC) sections 109.38 and 109.381 and the amendments to ORC 2953.32, 2953.37, 2953.38, and 2953.53. Through this program, the Ohio Attorney General's Office was tasked with selecting a private entity to receive notices of court orders of sealed or expunged records and to notify identified data repositories and other websites of their obligation to remove the sealed or expunged record. The enclosed report details the background, implementation, and evaulation of this pilot program created through Am. Sub. H.B. 49, 132nd Gen. A. (2017) (eff., in part, Sept. 29, 2017)"--Letter from the Attorney General

This text explores the issues surrounding acts of clemency - what justifies pardoning, who should be pardoned, and the definition of an unforgivable crime. Several historical case studies are taken as examples of the use and misuse of clemency.

This title is regularly updated. The most recent edition will be at this location on the Internet.

Every year, millions of children across the country get arrested. What most adults do not know is that the juvenile justice system has become much more punitive in the last fifteen years. No longer is juvenile court a place where regardless of what happens you get a clean slate when you turn eighteen. Today almost every adjudication of delinquency is accompanied by adult-style fingerprinting, prior record score points, and DNA tests that can stay in a state repository for years. For every stage of the justice system, from arrest to expungement, When Kids Get Arrested gives "top tips" to help adults make the best choices to protect children from long-term negative consequences. Sandra Simkins provides straight answers to common questions such as: Should I let my child talk to the police without a lawyer? How can I help my child succeed on probation? Should my child admit to the charges or take the case to trial? How will this case impact my child's future? Will it prevent him from getting a job or going into the army? My child has mental health issues. Can the juvenile justice system help? My daughter is out of control. Should I call the police? My son got arrested at school and is now suspended. What should I do next? Simkins takes complicated legal concepts and breaks them down into easy-to-understand guidelines. She includes information on topics such as police interrogation, detention hearings, and bail, along with state-by-state specifics. When Kids Get Arrested is a perfect resource for parents, social workers, guidance counselors, teachers, principals, coaches, and anyone else who works with children.

"[A] comprehensive resource for practicing lawyers, judges and policymakers on the legal restrictions and penalties that result from a criminal conviction over and above the court-imposed sentence."

"Legal Collection includes full text for nearly 250 of the world's scholarly law journals, including a mix of law-school based journals, peer-reviewed journals, bar journals, and other genres of legal literature. Provides index, abstracts and selected full text."

The "remove employment barriers" section of this site provides information that helps people with convictions get jobs, including information about record sealing, collateral consequences, and CQE.

"The Restoration of Rights Project (RRP) is a project of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center launched in August 2017 in partnership with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, and the National HIRE Network. The RRP is an online resource containing detailed state-by-state analyses of the law and practice in each U.S. jurisdiction relating to restoration of rights and status following arrest or conviction."