That’s 1 million people whose hope to build a better future for themselves and their families is constantly denied because of a mistake made in their past. Maryland needs a pathway to a meaningful second chance, one that is accessible to everyone who earns it.

Even though 407,000 adults with a record in Maryland are currently eligible for full record clearance and hundreds of thousand more for partial clearance, most don’t pursue clearance. Maryland’s current record clearance process is costly, confusing, and overly bureaucratic. Our state is holding back residents who have earned a second chance and deserve to be full and valued contributors to our communities.

Today, only 2% of people with convictions eligible for clearance under the existing petition-based system get relief. It would take 86 years to clear all the eligible convictions under the current system.

On Juneteenth 2024, Maryland Governor Wes Moore pardoned 175,000 state residents who had low-level convictions related to marijuana. While meaningful, this gesture of official forgiveness was at the discretion of the state’s top elected official. These convictions still show up on those records. Marylanders need an automatic mechanism to acknowledge they’ve met the requirements to have their records cleared.

Under the current system, the estimated aggregate annual earnings loss associated with clearable convictions is $1.5 billion of taxable income, and this estimate doesn’t include the income loss for those with non-conviction records.

Clean Slate policies primarily aim to tackle the enduring repercussions of a record, which can impede individuals from obtaining employment, finding suitable housing, accessing educational opportunities, and rebuilding their lives. Through record clearance, people are offered a fresh start and face fewer barriers to opportunity due to their past.

Twelve states – including Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia, have already passed “Clean Slate” laws that automatically clear arrest and conviction records once they become eligible. This streamlined process is more efficient for government and working families, and it has garnered bipartisan support in states across the country.

Nearly all states have a record clearance process. The terminology varies from state to state, with sealing, expunging, and clearing being among the most commonly used terms. While each term has distinct legal meanings and criteria, they are often used interchangeably, and they all broadly describe the same process: restricting public access to arrest and conviction records.

The eligibility criteria for record clearance varies by state - yet typically hinges on factors like record or conviction type, time elapsed, and completion of sentencing.

In most states, the onus is on the individual to initiate the process, which often requires:

• Awareness of the process and personal eligibility for record clearance;

• Filing a petition with a court;

• Attending court proceedings, potentially taking time off of work;

• Hiring an attorney;

• Navigating bureaucratic processes; and,

• Monitoring record clearance to verify that the appropriate agencies have accurately updated records in accordance with the court's orders.

The process is inefficient and burdensome for most people. As a result, less than 10 percent of those eligible for relief actually receive it (Chien, 2020).

Clean Slate laws streamline record clearance by automating the process and shifting the burden to the state to ensure everyone who is eligible for record clearance receives it. Doing so alleviates the strain on court resources and removes the socioeconomic barriers to accessing record relief.