[L]awmakers gave their final stamp of approval this week to a bill that provides a quicker path to scrubbing certain convictions from one’s criminal record.
Under the new law, individuals convicted of certain crimes they committed before they turned 25 will have an expedited process to expunge their records if they meet requirements for public service.
Both chambers approved the bill this week, after it went through a committee of conference.
Bobby Sand, the governor’s liaison to criminal justice programs, lauded the legislation as a first for Vermont. Once signed, it will incentivize people with low-level convictions to engage in their communities, Sand said. He expects the concept will gain followers on a national level.
Under current law, Vermonters can petition for certain nonviolent crimes to be removed from their record 10 years after they were convicted. Felonies and violent offenses are not eligible.
S.115 will allow people who committed a crime before they turned 25 to petition for expungement after just five years, so long as they do not have a new conviction and they meet certain work requirements approved by the Community Justice Network of Vermont. That could include community service, employment, or a year-long term with the military, AmeriCorps or another service organization.
Criminal records factor into applications for housing and employers commonly ask job applicants about prior convictions. A conviction can be an impediment to financial aid or student loans for higher education, Sand said, and it can also come with a mental toll.
“Restoring clean criminal histories not only has practical benefits,” Sand said, “but I think it will have some psychological benefits as well.”
Last month, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed an executive order removing a question about convictions from applications for jobs with the state.
S.115 also allows people to expunge their record if the crime they were convicted for is no longer a crime. Someone convicted of possession of a small amount of marijuana before the decriminalization law went through in 2013 will be able to petition to remove the conviction from their record.
The language extending expedited expungement to under-25-year-olds was added in the House. Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, who introduced the bill, supports the additional language.
“The idea that we can take young people, especially, get them involved in donating back to the community and become productive members of society — we want to encourage that kind of thing,” said Benning, a defense attorney.
Benning was the lead sponsor of Vermont’s original expungement law in 2011. He expects that lawmakers will continue to expand the list of crimes eligible for removal over the next few years.
“I suspect that as we learn better how to deal with opiate problems we’re going to be taking a look at how that dovetails with the expungement process,” Benning said. “But all of us are brand new to this opiate problem. We haven’t quite figured out how to address it the right way.”
Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, sees S.115 as part of a trend in the Legislature to put more emphasis on restorative justice.
“We continue to recognize that criminal records for not only youth but adults as well can have very damaging consequences,” Grad said.
The state does not have records on how many people have petitioned for expungement since the original law passed in 2011, and there are no estimates for how many people will be eligible for expungement in exchange for community service. Sand said that he hopes the state will track the statistics going forward.
