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For the Record: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance—Episode 2, Esta Bigler

June 4, 2018

Esta Bigler, the director of the Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School's Labor and Employment Law program, joins For the Record to discuss her work regarding record clearance as a lawyer, which has ranged from creating educational programming to working on a groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court case.

Strategies to Engage Employers in Conversations about Hiring Applicants with Criminal Records

May 30, 2018

This tip sheet offers suggestions on how organizations and agencies that provide support to people who have criminal records can engage employers in conversations about hiring people who have criminal records, which will help improve the employment outcomes of the people they serve.

Clearing a Path, from Conviction to Employment

Access to employment is a critical component of the support that research says helps keep people from returning to the criminal justice system, as a steady job provides financial resources and social connections that build motivation.

Santa Cruz Employers Discuss ‘Building Futures’ that Involve Hiring People with Criminal Records

Several presenters at the event pointed to the SmartHire program—a public-private partnership funded by the State of California and Santa Cruz County that pre-screens and subsidizes qualified candidates for their first six months on the job—as an incentive for employers to hire people with records.

HUD Says Denying Rentals to People with Criminal Records May Violate Fair Housing Act

In cases where a policy disproportionately restricted housing for a minority population, even if none was intended, the burden is on the housing provider to justify the policy as necessary for a “substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest.”

Get to Know the Expert: Q & A with Michael Pinard

The CSG Justice Center staff spoke with Michael Pinard—the Francis and Harriet Iglehart Professor of Law and co-director of the Clinical Law Program at the University of Maryland (UM) Francis King Carey School of Law—about his thoughts on record clearance, drawing on his experiences as a public defender, professor, and co-founder of UM’s Reentry Clinic.

NRRC Projects

Reentry and Employment

Uniting business leaders, policymakers, and practitioners from the corrections and workforce development fields with the goal of improving reentry and employment outcomes for individuals with criminal histories.

Key Resources

Clean Slate Clearinghouse

CSG Justice Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, the National Juvenile Defender Center, the National Association of Counties, and the National League of Cities

This website provides people with criminal records, legal service providers, and state policymakers with information on juvenile and adult criminal record clearance policies in all U.S. states and territories.

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National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction

CSG Justice Center

This website provides a searchable database of the collateral consequences in all U.S. Jurisdictions.

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The Federal Interagency Reentry Council: A Record of Progress and a Roadmap for the Future

The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice

The Federal Interagency Reentry Council (The Council) has been working since 2011 to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes related to employment, education, housing, health, and child welfare for people involved with the criminal justice system. This report provides a review of The Council’s accomplishments and a roadmap for its future.

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Webinars

The Clean Slate Model–Sealing Criminal Records through Automated Computer Queries

April 18, 2018

Transformative Practices–Promoting Access to Expungement

December 13, 2017

Criminal Record Clearance and the Clean Slate Clearinghouse

November 2, 2017

Relevant Organizations

Collateral Consequences Resource Center

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia

Legal Action Center

National Employment Law Project

National Juvenile Defender Center