NYAPRS Note: We cannot continually punish New Yorkers who to provide for their families by excluding them from the workforce because of convictions they have already served their time for. The Clean Slate Act aims to remove these barriers to employment and housing faced by people who were formerly incarcerated. A recent report from John Jay College shows that people of color are disproportionately affected by convictions in New York, making Clean Slate an important step to righting the wrongs of over policing communities of color. With just over three weeks left of the session, we must continue to push the legislature to pass Clean Slate before leaving Albany for the year. Use this link to email, tweet, or call your legislators to urge them to support passing Clean Slate! See below for more information about the John Jay College report and where the Clean Slate bill is within the legislature.
Conviction Inconsistency Data Takes Center Stage as Clean Slate Act Aims to Seal Records
Finger Lakes 1 | May 15, 2023
A report by the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College reveals over a million criminal convictions in New York dating back to 20 years or more, disproportionately affecting Black residents.
After analyzing 6.6 million convictions from 1980 to 2021, researchers found that 42% of convictions between 1985 and 2021 involved Black individuals, who make up only 15% of the state’s population. The findings come at a time when state lawmakers, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, are contemplating the Clean Slate Act, aimed at sealing many criminal records in the state.
The report also revealed the scope of criminal convictions in New York, with annual convictions peaking between 1990 and 2010 at 170,000 to 200,000, before significantly declining to 109,000 in 2010.
The Clean Slate Act proponents argue that it would alleviate the difficulties faced by individuals with criminal records in securing jobs and housing. However, Republicans have criticized the proposal, citing the necessity of background checks for certain occupations. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced that the bill, which has not passed in several years, might be up for a vote in the upcoming legislative session ending June 8.
New York Advocates Strengthen Push for ‘Clean Slate’ Bill before Session Ends
By Tim Williams and Nick Reisman | NY State of Politics | May 15, 2023
With the clock ticking down on the New York legislative session, criminal justice advocates are calling for passing “Clean Slate” legislation before the scheduled end of the legislative session on June 8.
State Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, a Queens Democrat who sponsors the legislation in the Assembly, told Capital Tonight that she’s “confident” that the bill can get done by June 8 thanks to additional support the bill has gotten after “significant changes” were made.
The bill, which advocates call the “Clean Slate” bill, would seal but not remove certain criminal convictions from a person’s record several years after their conviction, which could allow them to access more employment and housing opportunities. Cruz stresses that the bill does not stop law enforcement from access the information from a person’s record.
Cruz argues that the bill will help the economy and help communities “feel safer” as studies have found that recidivism drops when someone has a job.
The bill, which is sponsored by Brooklyn Democrat Zellnor Myrie in Senate, passed the state Senate at the end of the last legislative session but did not make its way out of the Assembly. Currently, the bill sits in the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Codes Committee.
N.Y. advocates push for ‘Clean Slate’ before session ends (nystateofpolitics.com)