From Governing >>>:
Half of all the criminal records in Pennsylvania—covering some 30 million cases—are about to be sealed over the next year, helping people who had minor brushes with the law pass background checks for jobs and housing.
“A couple of decades ago, this was barely a blip on our radar,” says Jamie Gullen, an attorney with Community Legal Services, a legal aid provider in Philadelphia. “But as technology started making these records more and more widely available, the commercial background-checking industry really exploded.”
Now, about two-thirds of the group’s clients need help with sealing or expunging their records. Even non-convictions can be a problem. People who were arrested and never charged, or charged but found not guilty, still have records in their file. “There’s no record too old or too minor to stop somebody from getting a job,” Gullen says. “We’ve seen people with decades-old and non-conviction arrest records be denied jobs.” Continue reading >>>:
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