Expungement App

In March 2008 a group of community activists crafted a day in which attorneys and advocates volunteered to provide expungements for the community.  They created New Orleans’s first city wide “Expungement Day.”  The doors were scheduled to open at 10 a.m., but the line outside the Tremé Center started to form at 7 a.m. As quickly as they could, they opened early to start consulting with the hundreds of people who needed their records sealed. The organizers anticipated closing at 4, but were forced to close several hours earlier to stop the flow of participants.  By the end of the day, over 400 people had filtered into and out of the Tremé Center and almost 100 volunteers were left weary. The event made a big impact, but also provided the foundation for understanding the need for expungement services for the working poor. 

Through their attendance, the participants defined a growing population.  It is a population that has experienced persistent and pervasive policing, has been touched by the criminal justice system by virtue of an arrest; are skilled and valuable members of the workforce, are without access to opportunity, and  a population that is relentlessly looking for sustainable employment. 2008 marked the year when hundreds of people converged in a place with a singular goal: employment.

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Expungement is a key component in breaking the cycle of recidivism for non-violent defendants.  Expungement facilitates access to economic opportunity for thousands of Louisianans, including predominantly African Americans who face persistent unemployment and exclusion from social advancement after arrest. Here, an arrest creates a permanent criminal record even if no criminal charges are instituted. Approximately 92% of all employers rely on criminal background checks when making hiring decisions.  However, when a person is simply arrested in Louisiana, there is a decreased likelihood of future employment exacerbated by the stigmatization of a being labeled as a “criminal.”

Here, an arrest creates a permanent criminal record even if no criminal charges are instituted. A permanent arrest record exists even if all charges are dismissed.  Un-convicted defendants face substantial social and legal barriers in gaining or retaining employment (as do convicted defendants). Mass incarceration with its lingering stigmatization equates to a new “barrier-rich” Jim Crow system.  Having a criminal record typically prevents a person from securing employment, enrolling in school and training programs, and securing affordable housing. Loss of housing frequently blocks an incarcerated person’s ability to fully reunite with family members after release. Yet, employment, training, and family housing are essential for successful disengagement from the criminal justice system.

This stigma of criminalization leads creates burdensome societal costs: an individual’s lost earnings, lower economic growth of the community/neighborhood, lower tax revenues for the city/state, and higher government spending on repeated incarcerations and other government expenses.  Louisiana’s recidivism rate has now reached 50%.  However, an expungement for nonviolent defendants removes the stigmatization of a criminal record, enhances an individual’s legitimate hope to find meaningful employment, and effective serve in the role of “citizen” in a democratic society.  The bottom line is that those who receive an expungement are less likely to recidivate when afforded the opportunity of employment.