A new study from researchers at the University of California, San Diego has given us some interesting insight on the effects of marijuana decriminalizaition. The study, which examined data from 37 stated between 2000 and 2019, found that decriminalization decreases arrest overall… AND is reduces racial disparities with remaining arrests.

The paper, published this month in the journal Social Science & Medicine, notes the following conclusion:

“Cannabis decriminalization was associated with substantially lower cannabis possession arrest rates among both adults and youths and among both Blacks and Whites. It reduced racial disparity between Blacks and Whites among adults but not youths. These findings suggested that cannabis decriminalization had its intended consequence of reducing arrests and may have potential to reduce racial disparity in arrests at least among adults.”

Though the analysis did not explain why racial disparities declined, it’s possible that it’s either because of individual’s marijuana possession behaviors as a result of legalization, or a change in behavior among law enforcement. As more states legalize the substance, it will likely become easier to find reasoning when researchers conduct studies like this one.

If your marijuana arrest, charge, or conviction is getting in the way of your livelihood, we can help. Reach out to Easy Expunctions to see if our record-clearing software can help you wipe the slate clean and get the second chance you’ve been looking for.

Montgomery, Alabama, finally expunged the juvenile record of Claudette Colvin in a decision that was very long overdue. In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks made headlines, Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a bus. At the young age of 15, Colvin resisted arrest and was charged with violating Montgomery’s segregation ordinance and assaulting an officer. It took 66 years for her record to formally be expunged.

Colvin stated that her arrest was overshadowed by Parks’ arrest due to Parks’ image. Colvin says that Parks’ lighter skin and older age made her more “acceptable to a white” community, which resulted in more media coverage and support. Although the Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to end bus segregation, Colvin’s probation never officially ended, and she waited decades before courts officially destroyed all records. Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey describes Colvin’s actions as “conscientious, not criminal; inspired, not illegal; they should have led to praise and not prosecution.” Now, at the age of 82, Colvin’s juvenile record has finally been destroyed, and Alabama’s wrongdoings are being exposed to the public—something that should have occurred 66 years ago. Colvin adds:

“When I think about why I’m seeking to have my name cleared by the state, it is because I believe if that happened it would show the generation growing up now that progress is possible and things do get better. It will inspire them to make the world better.”

Progress requires action. If your criminal record is placing limits on your life, Easy Expunctions is here to help. For more information about a simple and affordable record-clearing process, contact our friendly professionals at (866) 775-9983 or visit our website at EasyExpunctions.com.

“Ban the Box” policies remove the check box that asks applicants if they have a criminal record on initial job applications. They exist to encourage employers to examine a candidate’s qualifications first, rather than letting the stigma of a criminal record get in the way of hiring someone who is otherwise qualified.

Soon “Ban the Box” will apply to U.S. federal contractors. The restriction is just one of many facets of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2020, which took effect in December. This won’t present a significant change for many employers whose states already have enacted “Ban the Box” laws, but it’s refreshing to see this as a standard practice across the country.

It’s estimated that federal contractors make up about 25% of the country’s workforce. Preventing employers from making judgments due to a person’s past before checking on a person’s qualifications will help rectify the damage that the stigma of criminal history has done across the country. Furthermore, it can actually help place people who are the most qualified into these positions. Though it doesn’t entirely prevent the criminal history inquiry, it does substantially delay it. Employers could still theoretically ask when extending a conditional offer.

If you’re tired of checking the box and losing a job opportunity before they even know your worth, we can help. We’re able to take a look at your criminal history and identify what’s eligible for expunction with our 100% online process. Sign up for a free background check today to get started on the path towards your much-needed second chance!

Punishment shouldn’t last a lifetime. DeSoto, Texas, acknowledges a person’s right to a second chance with the enaction of a “Ban the Box” policy that prevents city employers with over 15 employees from asking about an applicant’s criminal history. Not only will the policy reduce discrimination in the workforce, but it would allow employers to focus qualifications on talent rather than an individual’s personal life away from work.

The policy does carry some exemptions, including nonprofits, governmental organizations, and state agencies. However, one step in the right direction has the potential to encourage other cities to follow in their footsteps, offering a new perspective that lights the path toward fairness and forgiveness. DeSoto Mayor Rachel Proctor defends the policy in a recent press release:

“There are many who have paid their debts to society who can’t secure a decent job because stating that they have a criminal record on a job application almost immediately eliminates them from consideration.”

By keeping a person from contributing to society after they’ve suffered the consequences, we are teaching a terrible lesson to the following generation, one that promotes continual suffering and rejects forgiveness. After all, criminal punishments exist to rehabilitate individuals for the sake of a better life for them, as well as their communities. Prolonged consequences will only minimize the talent pool and add to the cycle of incarceration, poverty, and even homelessness. Council member Candice Quarles also addresses this during the release:

“Removing this barrier to employment will allow those who have paid their debt to society to become contributing members of society once again. We shouldn’t punish them for a lifetime for their worst mistake. DeSoto will be safer because of it.”

You are not defined by your worst mistake. If your criminal record keeps you from pursuing your life of choice, contact the friendly experts at Easy Expunctions for a seamless and affordable record-clearing process. Give us a call at (866) 775-9983 or visit our website at EasyExpunctions.com to learn more.

North Carolina victims of human trafficking will receive support from the state with a new budget created to help survivors pursue a better life. The budget assists with many resources, including waiving expunction costs for victims wrongfully cited for participating in sex work. Now, these survivors will be able to clear their records without bearing the burden of unnecessary fees that shouldn’t have been imposed on them in the first place.

The budget, accumulating to $3.2 million, is spread across multiple nonprofit organizations that aid human trafficking survivors with vital resources like education, employment assistance, and case management. Another $1.1 million will support other existing services implemented to help victims move forward into a better life—a life that they deserve to live. Sen. Ted Alexander expressed his duty to put a stop to the cruelty of human trafficking and the devastating consequences faced by victims:

“Human trafficking is all too prevalent in North Carolina. We have the means to both combat this criminal behavior and to help victims caught up in the vicious cycle of exploitation and coercion.”

With the goal of creating a grant program that offers economic assistance to human trafficking survivors, the budget will dedicate $4.4 million to North Carolina’s Human Trafficking Commission, as well as $4.8 million to agencies that currently help victims of sexual assault.

If your criminal record is costing you time and money, you can clear your name at an affordable price with help from Easy Expunctions. For more information about a lawyer-free expunction process, give us a call at (866) 775-9983 or visit our website at EasyExpunctions.com.

More and more states are getting with the times, at least when it comes to cannabis. Montana state officials are working to create a drug court that deals primarily with the expungement of criminal charges for marijuana-related offenses, a notion that could relieve thousands of deserving Montanans from the burden of their criminal record.

The state previously passed a bill allowing for recreational cannabis sales, which forced state officials to acknowledge the unreasonable consequences faced by those carrying marijuana-related charges on their criminal records. Due to the millions of dollars accumulated from marijuana sales, the same bill also allows for the expungement or resentencing of cannabis-related crimes, a notion that must be implemented to establish a level playing field for both those benefiting from cannabis and those suffering from a cannabis-related offense.

Montana officials are adopting “plain language” rules to make it easier for individuals to successfully work through the expungement process, according to State Supreme Court Administrator Beth Mclaughlin. Her statement addressing the reasoning behind the new rule follows:

“If somebody comes into court and they’re petitioning the court to do something and they don’t know exactly what the statute requires them to ask for, it’s going to take more of the judge’s time, and it’s just going to clog things up even more”

If you’re living with the consequences of a previous conviction, our record-clearing experts at Easy Expunctions can wipe your record clean without the headache and hassle of hiring a lawyer. For more information about an easy and affordable record-clearing process, give us a call at (866) 775-9983 or visit our website at EasyExpunctions.com.

When it comes to our prison system, we need to push toward rehabilitation, not reincarceration. The lack of employment opportunities for ex-convicts raises a question that Colorado Attorney Phil Weiser seeks to address with a $1.1million initiative with the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) and other community organizations. After all, if the true goal of our prison system is justice and rehabilitation, why are we seeing such high rates of reincarceration?

Colorado’s rate of recidivism, or the tendency for a formerly incarcerated individual to re-offend, has reached an alarming level of nearly half of all released offenders. Formerly incarcerated individuals face a variety of obstacles that make finding a job extremely difficult, which ultimately keeps them in a cycle of poverty and homelessness. Without making money, these individuals are left with very few options and often end up back behind bars.

So, with hopes of providing a more promising future for deserving ex-convicts, the Colorado initiative will invest financial resources to “expand the impact of proven and promising reentry service providers,” develop a network of employers willing to hire former prisoners, and expand community organizations that work with ex-convicts to improve their job skills, find stable housing, and assist them with mental health support. Cory Miskell, the director of Colorado’s Latino Coalition for Community Leadership, announces their involvement in Colorado’s initiative with a moving statement:

“We hope to create a workplace where you can showcase your full story. One in which self-doubt, abuse, unemployment, and addiction are not the end of the story but only part of the telling. A story not of a single issue or regrettable circumstance, but one of the complex and dynamic intersection of restoration, purpose and triumph.”

You deserve a second chance. Take your future back into your own hands with an easy and affordable expunction process from Easy Expunctions. Contact our record-clearing experts at (866) 775-9983 or visit our website at EasyExpunctions.com to learn more.

Finding a job just became a little bit easier in Maine. The state has officially enacted Legislative Document 1167, which bans private employers from asking applicants about their criminal history early in the hiring process. LD 1167 was signed into law in July, and officially took effect on October 18th.

LD 1167 does a few things. First, it prevents employers from requesting criminal record information. Second, employers may no longer state that applicants with criminal records will not be considered. While there are exceptions—for example, fields with federal or state laws that won’t allow employees with criminal records—the general motive of the law is to prevent qualified individuals from being denied work purely based on inconsequential records.

The “Ban the Box” movement is sweeping throughout counties and cities. Delaying criminal record inquiries can show employers that sometimes, the best person for the job also happens to be someone who has had a run-in with the law. The overall goal is to diminish the stigma an arrest, charge, or conviction can carry. People who have made mistakes or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time shouldn’t have to struggle to find work, especially at a time when there are severe labor shortages across the country.

If your state hasn’t enacted any “Ban the Box” laws and you’re sick of disclosing your criminal history on the same page where you give general information like your name and address, we can help. Sign up for a free background check from Easy Expunctions, and we’ll tell you what’s on your record and what we can expunge with our record-clearing software.

As technology advances at a rapid pace, it also becomes more and more invasive. There’s been quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding regulation and privacy concerns for Facebook users, which prompted the organization to scale back its Facial Recognition system for more than 1 billion users. Although the system may have its pros, people working in law enforcement were accused of using and abusing users’ right to privacy by accessing peoples’ Facial Recognition templates. Now, with hopes of easing the public’s concerns, Facebook’s privacy regulations will be monitored, and the system will only be implemented for a more narrow set of cases.

According to Facebook, The Facial Recognition system was implemented to prevent fraud and impersonation, and it was also said to help users who needed to verify their identity. Not only was the system costly, but its use in solving criminal cases damaged trust for users. After a hefty class action lawsuit in Illinois, Facebook agreed to pay $650 million for using biometric data, including face-tagging, without permission. This raised reasonable concerns regarding uncertainty, regulation, and intention amongst the public, and lawyers even accused Facebook of misrepresenting the system to its users. Now, those who previously enabled Facial Recognition are no longer able to be automatically recognized in photos and videos, and the template used to identify these users will be permanently deleted.

A powerful tool is only as good as its intention. Unfortunately, there are very few people who can ethically justify the system’s implementation. Until Facebook comes clean to the public in regards to the Facial Recognition system’s full capabilities, regulation is absolutely necessary for restoring transparency. If you feel like your reputation is in the hands of someone else, you can clear your name with a quick and affordable record-clearing package from Easy Expunctions. Contact our friendly professionals today at (866) 775-9983 or visit our website at EasyExpunctions.com to take the first step toward a clear criminal record.

In a recent interview with a local news station, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) vowed to spend his final year in office getting as many people possible to apply for marijuana expunctions.

“This is a plant that’s legal in many jurisdictions across America, and it’s not a big deal, but you go through your life in many cases a convicted felon, and that excludes you from a lot of opportunities. So I developed an expedited review process that I encourage everybody to partake in.”

He noted that there are roughly 20,000 marijuana-related cases, and many of those are eligible to be cleared. It’s worth noting that medical use in Pennsylvania was legalized in 2016, and there’s a current bipartisan legalization bill in the works. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman continued promoting his expedited petition program to hopefully bring a second chance to those who are having a hard time finding work or housing due to a marijuana charge:

“If you’ve got some stupid charge like that on your record, it doesn’t cost anything to apply, and we can get that off your permanent record. I don’t care how conservative or how liberal you are politically. I don’t think we as a society should be really damaging people’s future for consuming a plant that is now legal in many jurisdictions—and soon will be in Pennsylvania.”

People with non-violent marijuana convictions in Pennsylvania can apply for free on the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons website. Applicants don’t need an attorney, and they have about a year to take advantage of the program.

If you’re in an illegal state and your marijuana charge is getting in the way of your future prospects, reach out to the experts at Easy Expunctions. We specialize in fast, affordable, and 100% online expunctions that can get you on the path towards a fresh start!