Good News! Clean Slate Bill Begins to Move

Under Pennsylvania’s “Clean Slate” bill, records of minor, non-violent misdemeanor convictions will automatically be sealed from public viewing after 10 conviction-free years. Photo from Steven Gottlieb via The Atlantic.

By Andy Hoover, Communications Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania

This space can get a little depressing sometimes. It seems like nearly every Friday we’re bringing you the latest bad news from Harrisburg or Philly or some other locale in the commonwealth.

That’s why here in our office this week we were falling over each other to write some good news.

On Tuesday, the state Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 529, known in short hand as “Clean Slate.” This is like criminal records expungement 2.0. Clean Slate works like so: People who have offenses on their records that are specified in the bill will have those records automatically sealed from public view after a period of years without another conviction. No going back to court to argue for it. No filing fees. Poof, it’s gone from public view, and while it will still be available to law enforcement, it will be unavailable to employers, landlords, schools, and nosy neighbors.

Our friends at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS), who have been the lead allies on this along with the Center for American Progress (CAP), describe it thusly:

“Sealing allows Pennsylvanians who show redemption by staying crime-free to move forward with their lives.  The bill enjoys broad and bipartisan support, including from some legislators and advocacy groups who rarely find common ground.”

To that point, the bill passed out of committee unanimously and is co-sponsored by a majority of senators. The House version, HB 1419, is co-sponsored by a broad swath of Democrats and Republicans. (The lists of co-sponsors are here and here.)

The ACLU of Pennsylvania is thrilled to join with CLS, CAP, the U.S. Justice Action Network, and many other allies in support of this bill. If it becomes law, Clean Slate will allow people with low-level criminal offenses to truly move on.

Of course, we can’t report from Harrisburg without some bad news. We’ve told you before about the terrible, no-good bill that will limit – and effectively end – the public’s access to video produced by police cameras. That bill continues its merry trip through the legislature without a whiff of resistance, passing the House Judiciary Committee unanimously on Wednesday, after it passed the state Senate unanimously last month. The days of seeing police videos in Pennsylvania will soon be over, if this bill becomes law.

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee wasn’t done. That bill on civil asset forfeiture that has inspired nothing more than a “meh” and a shrug of the shoulders from us passed out of committee, too. Color us unimpressed. This is the first time the state House will have a chance to vote on forfeiture reform, though, and amendments to the bill are starting to trickle in. How this plays out on the House floor remains to be seen.

Reforming the criminal justice system will not happen on a linear trajectory. This path will zig and zag. And this week proved it.

On to the links.

EXCERPTS
(Criminal justice news that could use a second look.)

 

Chief Scott Schubert is expected to provide the Pittsburgh Police department with a steady hand, while avoiding the reforms pursued by his predecessor, Chief Cameron McLay. Photo by Lake Fong, via the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Post-Gazette: “Pittsburgh police chief worked his way to the top”

“Three months into the job, Chief Schubert is steering clear of the reformer role shouldered by his predecessor, Chief Cameron McLay, instead naming community engagement, officer support and violent crime reduction as priorities for the department. ‘There are a lot of goals,’ he said in a recent interview, seated in his office in police headquarters, which is filled to the brim with photos, city memorabilia and awards. ‘But it’s all to make sure we have the best department.’”

PRI: “It took a health emergency for this Guatemalan boy, who crossed the border alone, to see a US judge”

“It was the kind of moment an undocumented immigrant dreads: coming face-to-face with the system. If they could have, the cousins would have avoided it. They didn’t have money to pay for hospital bills. But they knew it could be a matter of life or death. So, the two Bartolos went to the hospital. At the hospital, it turned out a lot was wrong. The bubbles were related to Pott’s disease or spinal tuberculosis. Bartolo also had a potentially fatal heart murmur. And he needed glasses. At 5-foot-3, he weighed 90 pounds. Hospital staff wrote in his records that he was possibly malnourished. But getting treated was tricky — he was a minor and even though the US government had placed him with his cousin when he entered the country, his cousin wasn’t actually his legal custodian. No one was. ‘So here he was, a kid who is 16, and he can’t sign the papers, he can’t make informed decisions about his own health care. But no one else could either…. No one seemed to know what to do to handle a kid who doesn’t have health insurance, doesn’t speak English and needed a lot of follow-up care.’ It was a case for the courts.”

Texas Monthly: “The Empathy of David Brown”

“Here, addressing America directly, was a black police officer. Someone who knew both the pain of losing officers in the line of duty and losing a son at the hands of officers. Someone who had worked hard to reform policing, to lower violent encounters. Video of that press conference was shared millions of times because, even during this terrible time, Chief Brown was a symbol of hope. His life is proof that you can support the men and women who serve and protect us and still want cops who violate the public trust to go to jail — or at least lose the badge. You can believe that people should respect and cooperate with police officers, but that not doing so shouldn’t result in death. That people in general should have more empathy and compassion for one another.”

HEADLINES

(Criminal justice news to be aware of.)

Renee Payton, director of the Philadelphia recovery agency Women Walking in Victory & Empowered Men (main office pictured above), has been accused of ‘pimping out’ residents to treatment centers. Photo by Jessica Griffin, via Philly.com.

Pennsylvania

• Philly.com: “‘Pimping out’ drug addicts for cash: In Philadelphia, addicts have become a cash crop, used by some treatment centers and recovery houses to create a perpetual money churn.”
• More from Philly.com: “3 years after decriminalization, Philly police still hooked on marijuana arrests”
• Philly Voice: “DA candidate Larry Krasner discusses vision for Philadelphia”
• York Dispatch: “York City Council open to marijuana decriminalization ordinance”
• Workers World: “Mumia supporters tell Philly DA: ‘Open the books!’”
• The Sentinel: “Court Debt: Bail bill could drive county prison costs”
• Fox 43: “House Judiciary Committee moves legislation enabling police to use body-worn cameras”
• The Philadelphia Tribune: “Chief refuses to ‘prematurely’ fire officer over shooting”
• PennLive: “Pa. Senate should not approve bill allowing school employees to carry firearms on school property: Willis R. Kocher”
• Bucks County Courier: “Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law toothless unless record-seekers, state sue”
• Philly.com: “Adopted from Korea as a child, deported as an adult — Philly man takes his life”
• Associated Press: “Suspect dies in Pennsylvania jail, third death since April”
• The Good Men Project: “Debate Sparked Over Underwear Searches by Philadelphia Police”
• York Dispatch: “Bill aims to increase police bodycam usage in Pa.”
• Delaware Law Weekly: “Judge Won’t Dismiss New Charges Against Williams”
• Lehigh Valley Live: “Lehigh Valley medical marijuana dispensary earns local approval”
• Pittsburgh Post Gazette: “Coalition ‘disappointed’ with Port Authority fare enforcement policy meeting”
• More from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette: “Family says relatives unfairly charged after officer shoots dog, fellow policeman”

National

• Washington Post: “A Baltimore case shows how Trump’s deportation crackdown can lead to lawlessness”
• The Conversation: “What’s hidden behind the walls of America’s prisons”
• CNN: “Police speak less respectfully to black drivers, study suggests”
• The Lens (New Orleans): “Louis Gibson and 300 other juvenile lifers could get parole hearings if lawmakers agree on a bill”
• The Guardian: “One prison, two realities: detainees suffer, but locals say it keeps a poor town afloat”
• Brennan Center: “Crime in 2016: Final Year-End Data” (More from Vox: “After decades of decline, the murder rate in large US cities rose over the past 2 years”)
• Associated Press: “Justices will review police use of cellphone tower data”
• Jurist: “California lawmakers pass bill prohibiting state assistance in enforcement of federal marijuana laws”
• The Post and Courier: “ACLU lawsuit takes aim at ‘modern-day debtors’ prison’ in Lexington County, but it’s a problem statewide”
• Rewire: “‘What We Do to Women Behind Bars’: A Q&A With ‘Jailcare’ Author Dr. Carolyn Sufrin”
• Mother Jones: “Imagine Being Pulled Off Death Row and Then Being Put Back on It”
• Pittsburgh Action News: “Pride flag burned, police launch hate crime investigation”
• Huffington Post: “Trump Budget Would Turn More Jails Into De Facto Mental Hospitals”
• News Sentinel: “Source: Chicago, federal government draft police reform deal”
• Bloomberg: “Paying Inmates Minimum Wages Helps the Working Class: Prisoners are farmed out for pennies an hour to private industry, undercutting compensation for everyone else. That should end.”
• Narratively: “This Former Inmate Is Fighting for Every Prisoner’s Right to a College Degree”
• Newsworks.org: “ACLU NJ: ICE courthouse arrests make immigrants less likely to report crimes”
• The Gazette: “U.S. Supreme Court to settle major cellphone privacy case”
• The Atlantic: “Will Texas’s Crackdown on Sanctuary Cities Hurt Law Enforcement?”
• The Marshall Project: “Justice Department Probes Alleged Abuses on Prison Transport Vans”
• Los Angeles Times: “California’s top court hears arguments on a ballot measure to speed up executions”
• Southern Poverty Law Center: “The two-tiered justice system: Money bail in historical perspective”
• U.S. News: “Lawmakers Partially ‘Ban the Box’ for College Applications”
• Chicago SunTimes: “For immigrant crime victims, police block path to win special visas”
• NPR: “How A Theory Of Crime And Policing Was Born, And Went Terribly Wrong”

Trump Criminal Justice Watch

• The Washington Post: “A Baltimore case shows how Trump’s deportation crackdown can lead to lawlessness”
• Also from the The Washington Post: “No loyalty even to Jeff Sessions”
• More from the The Washington Post: “Forget Trump’s complaints about sanctuary cities. Most communities are actually helping enforce immigration laws.”
• CNN: “Trump to nominate Christopher Wray as FBI director”
• Boston Globe: “Trump administration starts returning copies of CIA torture report to Congress”
• ABC News: “Deputy AG: Push for tough sentences is not reviving drug war”
• The New Yorker: “Can Bipartisan Criminal-Justice Reform Survive in the Trump Era?”
• The New York Times: “Intelligence Contractor Is Charged in First Leak Case Under Trump”
• More from The New York Times: “Where Are the United States Attorneys?”
• Chicago Tribune: “Emanuel, Trump Justice Department mum on who backed away from CPD court oversight”

The Appeal is a weekly newsletter keeping you informed about criminal justice news in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and beyond. It is written and compiled by Matt Stroud, ACLU-PA’s criminal justice researcher, and ACLU-PA’s summer interns, Emilia Beuger and Midge Carter.

If you have suggestions for links or criminal justice-related work that you’d like to highlight in The Appeal, or if you have suggestions for ways that we might improve, please email Matt at mstroud@aclupa.org. And if someone forwarded this email to you, and you’d like to receive it every Friday, you can subscribe here.

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