Clean Slate New York

Unlocking opportunity with automatic sealing of criminal records

In New York, a criminal record can mean a lifetime of blocked opportunity. We're working to change that.

 

 

Clean Slate NY has passed the NYS Legislature! We now need your help to urge Governor Hochul to sign this bill into law and end perpetual punishment for to the 2.3 million New Yorkers with conviction histories.

 


Clean Slate NY is fighting for a new law that will automatically clear a New Yorker’s criminal record once they become eligible. The civil damage a criminal record can inflict is often wide-ranging and enduring—permanently barring many individuals from basic opportunities like employment and housing. Clean Slate NY is about strengthening our communities by ensuring that New Yorkers are not punished beyond their sentences and can be full and fair participants in economic and civic life.
 

Learn more about our campaign and how you can get involved.

Check out Getting to Go: The Case for Criminal Record Expungement in New York State.

 

 

“It’s like I’m still in a prison because of my criminal background.”

Brian P. came home from prison in 2010 and set off to get his life back together and find work. He’d done everything right, including completing his sentence in a rigorous alternative to incarceration program available to those with non-violent histories, connecting with reentry organizations for help once released, completing a rehab program, and working with CSS’s Next Door Project to apply for a Certificate of Good Conduct and to be sure his criminal record was accurate.

Brian had studied to be a paralegal and he was excited when he landed an interview at a law firm. “They asked if I had a record, I admitted I did, and they took the application.”

When Brian called back, he was told he’d been hired and he was elated. But that feeling didn’t last long.

“I had that job all of five minutes,” Brian says. A supervisor at the law firm learned that Brian’s convictions were related to larceny, the job offer was instantly rescinded. Says Brian, “That’s when I realized, I’ve got a problem here.”

He persevered, applying to be a driver for a pizza parlor. “I got that interview but failed the background check. I was facing barriers everywhere I went.”

But Brian kept at it, he was a substance abuse counselor for a time, but while the work was rewarding it was overwhelming and challenged his own sobriety. He worked at a friend’s barber shop, but when that business closed he again found himself unemployed. “Going back to the street – that’s not an option for me,” says Brian. “I don’t care how difficult things get.”

“It’s like I’m still in a prison because of my criminal background.”

“I’ve been able to change my life—really seriously make changes. So why should I be constantly reminded of my record every time I apply for a job, or look for an apartment?” says Brian. He strongly supports the campaign to bring an expungement law to New York State. “Without expungement, I’m always under the shadow of the mistakes I have made.”

Speaking of his experience as a counselor, he says: “I would tell guys, ‘you’re an ex offender. And the important part of that is EX—it’s in the past, over.”

For Brian, expungement would make that a reality for him and thousands of others. With such a law in place, he says, “You have a chance to wipe your slate clean. Now, the rest of your life is on you.”