According to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts,
37 percent of prisoners released from U.S. state prisons in 2012 returned to
prison at least once within three years. In an ideal world, everyone who has
been sentenced to prison would be rehabilitated, complete their sentence, exit
prison, and become a productive member of society. Return to prison is not a
part of this ideal scenario; however, recidivism – committing another crime – is
a significant challenge that must be addressed.
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| At the Project Access kickoff news conference: Chief Justice Bridget McCormack and Judge Michelle Rick along with partners from Detroit Mercy Law School, Michigan Legal Help, and Michigan State Bar Foundation |
Often employers use background checks as
part of the hiring process, and if an applicant has a criminal record,
employers may simply disregard the applicant. Having a clean record is also an
important factor in applying for college, qualifying for student
loans, getting a professional license, and purchasing or renting a home.
Although
there is a formal process in place for expunging—or setting aside—criminal
convictions, there are barriers to the accessibility of this legal process. Expungement clinics help promote the public’s
knowledge of the process and help assist those who are interested in expunging
their record. A participant to an expungement clinic would first be able to
find out whether they are eligible. If eligible, they would receive help accessing
and completing the forms necessary to apply. To this end, expungement clinics
are a valuable asset to people with a past conviction and are a vital part of
both reducing recidivism rates and increasing the quality of life for many.
This summer, a traveling expungement clinic
called “Project Access” brought help to six different counties across northern
lower Michigan [see related article]. The four-hour workshops targeted people
with convictions from the counties of Gratiot, Missaukee, Wexford, Crawford,
Kalkaska, and Otsego. Project Access was a collaboration of the Michigan State Bar Foundation,
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law students, and the Michigan Legal Help
Program, as well as volunteer attorneys and other community partners. These
workshops used Michigan Legal Help tools to screen participants for eligibility
and to generate the Application to Set Aside Conviction form for those found to
be eligible. The tools used by Project Access staff are accessible to everyone
on MichiganLegalHelp.org. The I Have an
Adult Criminal Conviction That I Would Like to Set Aside (Expunge) toolkit
bundles the form generating tool, called the “Do-It-Yourself Expungement (Adult
Conviction),” with other supplemental content that explains the expungement
process in detail. This content includes answers to commonly-asked questions,
instructional checklists that guide the visitor through the process
step-by-step, and articles with detailed information on topics related to
expungement.
Michael
Kiehne of the Michigan Legal Help Program has been an integral part of Project
Access and several other expungement events in Michigan. One of Michael’s most
recent contributions to local expungement efforts was his crafting of
expungement “advocate tools” that were made available on the Michigan Poverty
Law Program’s (MPLP) website. Although based on the original expungement tool
available on MichiganLegalHelp.org, these advocate tools are designed to be
used by people providing assistance to someone interested in expungement, such
as volunteers at an expungement clinic. This is different from the expungement
tool available on MichiganLegalHelp.org that guides the person interested in
applying for expungement through the process themselves.
The advocate
tools offer two versions, one for non-attorney advocates and one for attorneys
and law students. At an expungement workshop, a non-attorney advocate could use
their version of the advocate tool to screen participants for eligibility. For
those who are eligible, an attorney or law student could use the other version
of the tool to confirm eligibility and help the participant generate their
Application to Set Aside Conviction. There are also 20-minute video
presentations on the MPLP website explaining what each tool does and how to use
it. These videos and tools make it easy
for organizations that may not have a lot of experience helping with
expungements to organize their own expungement clinic. In fact, this approach was
used by the Jackson Financial Stability Network, an affiliation of nonprofits
in Jackson, Michigan. The group conducted a one-day expungement fair at the
Michigan Works! Southeast location in Jackson and had more than 100 people in
attendance.
Expungement
efforts such as these are of great value to the community and to those who have
been convicted of a crime. After all, expunging one’s record can ease
reintegration into society, making them less likely to return to prison. The
Michigan Legal Help Program sees recidivism and the obstacles faced by those
with a past conviction to be directly related to Access to Justice as a whole. The
program will continue to promote expungement as a possible option worth
considering for those with a conviction and advocate for a more efficient and
accessible expungement process.