Clean Slate: Because We all Deserve a Second Chance   

Louisiana faces several challenges connected to its criminal legal system: the highest incarceration rate in the country, a high poverty rate, and numerous barriers to housing, education, and employment for those who have served their sentences.  While these are complex challenges, one common-sense policy solution is to simplify the overly complicated process of clearing old criminal records for thousands of individuals. By enacting clean slate legislation in Louisiana, we can remove barriers for those who have served their sentences and provide them the opportunity to thrive.  This is more important than ever in the wake of COVID-19 to ensure that Louisianians with criminal records aren't left behind when the economy reopens.    

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We can all agree that a criminal record shouldn't be a life sentence to poverty - it's time to move to a clean slate in Louisiana. 

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   Clean Slate In the News

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• Read about the heartbreaking set backs criminal records have in this NPR article.

• Learn about Louisiana's expungement process and research on Clean Slate.

• Research finds expungements lead to increased wages and decreased recidivism. 

• Leading researchers on criminal justice data support Clean Slate.

• JAC talks to the The Lens about barriers to expungement in New Orleans during COVID-19 pandemic. 

• City Business:  Louisiana making progress on prison-to-workforce-reentry.

• East Baton Rouge District Attorney and Public Defender support clean slate.  

• Law enforcement officials support clean slate. 

• NFL players Malcolm Jenkins and Torrey Smith write about the importance of Clean Slate.

• Leading conservative policy group R-Street supports Clean Slate initiatives. 

• 2019 Clean Slate Taskforce Report Report recommends how to make expungement less complex.

• Learn more about the national Clean Slate movement by reading the Clean Slate Toolkit here.​​

Clean Slate Videos

NFL's Malcom Jenkins Speaks Out About Unfair Expungement Processes

National Clean Slate Initiative video on clean slate policies nationwide