Latest news with #ExpungementReformAct
Washington Post
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
In Md., Moore's weed pardons are a political pitch. What's the impact?
Last June, Gov. Wes Moore (D) issued a blanket pardon to 100,000 people in Maryland, forgiving decades of low-level marijuana possession charges in one of the nation's most far-reaching acts of clemency. The historic act, which the governor's office said forgave 175,000 misdemeanor cannabis possession and misdemeanor drug paraphernalia convictions, was praised by criminal justice reform advocates as a symbolic but meaningful step in rectifying harm done by the failed war on drugs. The Juneteenth pardons have since become a cornerstone of Moore's political pitch as he seeks a second term as governor and raises his national profile amid speculation over a potential 2028 presidential bid. A year after the pardons — which Moore has called record setting 'both in impact and scope' — their practical impact has been limited. The Maryland Judiciary added a pardon notation to the bottom of the affected cases in the court system's publicly available online case search database, a signal of the state's forgiveness to landlords or potential employers inclined to research someone's criminal record. As a follow-up during this year's state legislative session, Moore championed the Expungement Reform Act of 2025, which, among other things, was meant to hide the 175,000 pardoned charges from the court's public database. But that law, which the governor's office helped write, excludes two of the three charges he pardoned. The omission calls into question whether about 18,000 forgiven convictions — for misdemeanor use of drug paraphernalia or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia — will actually be cleared from case search when that part of the law goes into effect in January. The new law's impact on the other 150,000 or so charges that were included, all for misdemeanor cannabis possession, is unclear because many were already expunged last summer — just weeks after Moore's pardons — as part of the Maryland Cannabis Reform Act passed by state lawmakers in 2023, a Washington Post review of those laws and state data found. The governor's office says the new law will apply to a subgroup of people who have other charges on their records besides cannabis possession but were not covered by the 2023 law. A Moore spokesperson, however, was unable to say how many such cases exist. Moore's senior spokesman, Carter Elliott, did not answer questions from The Post about why the paraphernalia charges were omitted from the governor's 2025 law. But he said in a statement that the administration will work with the judiciary branch and state lawmakers to 'ensure that the legislative intent to include all pardoned convictions are hidden from view.' 'Gov. Moore's historic mass pardons were intended to right the wrong of a policy that criminalized the possession and use of marijuana and disproportionately impacted communities of color, because no one should continue to suffer the ill effects of a conviction for conduct that is no longer a crime in the State of Maryland,' Elliott said in a separate statement. On Juneteenth of this year, Moore's office announced an additional 6,938 pardons that were mistakenly omitted from the original pardons. But a Maryland Judiciary spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether those simple cannabis possession charges should have been expunged under the 2023 law or if they'll be expunged now. The governor's office said they will be hidden from the court's public online database under this year's new law. Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery), who is vice chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and helped author the Expungement Reform Act, said the intent of that bill was to include all pardoned convictions. 'If for some reason there was an error in the drafting, the legislature will unquestionably come back and remedy that error with emergency legislation that would take effect immediately,' Waldstreicher said. 'But what we should not do is allow the complicated processes between three branches of government to obscure the moral act that the governor took.' Adrian Rocha, policy director for the Last Prisoner Project advocacy group seeking to end the harmful impacts of those convicted for offenses that are now legal, said governors often use their pardon powers only in lame duck periods. 'Here we have a first-term governor who has front loaded pardons,' said Rocha, who worked with Moore's office on securing the pardons. 'It's a very strong message about where Governor Wes Moore believes his impact exists and what he wants to do with that.' Cannabis reform has been a key issue for Moore since he took office in 2023. He has often spoken about the importance of rectifying the harms done to Black and Brown communities through mass incarceration due to drug arrests. Moore's administration created a Cannabis Workforce Development Program that provides job opportunities in that industry to people convicted of marijuana-related offenses. The administration also distributes grants and loans to small businesses entering the cannabis industry through a Cannabis Business Assistance Fund established in 2023. Long before Moore was elected governor, state lawmakers also had been chipping away at the legacy of the war on drugs in Maryland, complex work requiring the cooperation of three distinctly different and constitutionally separate branches of government: the executive, the legislature and the courts. Maryland legalized medical cannabis in 2014 and Maryland voters approved the legalization of recreational use in a 2022 ballot referendum, paving the way for lawmakers to pass the Maryland Cannabis Reform Act in 2023 — which Moore signed into law. Along the way, lawmakers prioritized the purging of court records for cannabis-related criminal charges through expungement, meaning someone with such a conviction could submit a petition to the courts requesting the permanent obliteration of all related records. An expungement is the most effective tool for clearing someone's criminal record, guaranteeing it will be purged from the three places documentation of it exists: the courthouse, the Maryland Judiciary case search database and the state's central repository, which is what gets tapped during criminal background checks. But the expungement process is also burdensome and expensive for those seeking relief, often requiring the help of a lawyer. 'These systems are complicated, they're cumbersome, there's paperwork,' said Heather Warnken, executive director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore School of Law. 'People who have been held back and marginalized by their convictions are facing even greater barriers to be able to engage with these systems.' Advocates have championed laws that mandate automatic expungement of certain charges. It's the only way to truly give people a clean slate and second chance, said Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery), one such advocate. Auto-expungement was a key component of the Maryland Cannabis Reform Act of 2023, which, in part, ordered the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to purge misdemeanor cannabis charges from the central repository. But officials from the Maryland judiciary have told lawmakers that auto-expungement is a financial and resource burden, prompting the General Assembly to instead use a method called 'shielding' in reform laws. Shielding hides criminal records from the public-facing Maryland Judiciary Case Search database — a form of relief that is simpler to achieve. But it does not include the destruction of records at the courthouse or from the central repository. Waldstreicher expressed frustration with the Maryland Judiciary for its reticence to commit to auto-expungement policies. 'The judiciary continues to plead poverty when it comes to their ability to expunge records,' Waldstreicher said. The governor's office said in a statement that administration officials chose to shield the charges the governor pardoned rather than expunging them because shielding 'provides many of the same benefits of an expungement, and does so without requiring that the individual take any action.' The governor's office added that auto-shielding was done 'using existing state resources' and 'without flooding courthouses with expungement petitions.' To completely purge their charges, those who were pardoned will still need to apply for expungement. Of the 100,000 people Moore pardoned, just 700 have taken that extra step, the judiciary said. It's not clear if those expungement applications were for the cannabis possession or paraphernalia charges. But the gap highlights the legal and administrative hurdles faced by people hoping for a clean slate in a state that disproportionately arrests and imprisons Black people Officials in Moore's office and criminal justice reform advocates said they've known since the June 2024 pardons that clemency was just the first step in a multipart plan to bring relief to those charged with acts that are no longer crimes in Maryland. Since then, the administration has worked to bring additional relief. The Maryland Expungement Reform Act expands expungement eligibility to three additional misdemeanor criminal charges: driving without a license, cashing a bad check and possession of a stolen credit card. Additional charges that were written into the original bill but later killed by lawmakers included resisting arrest, making a false statement to an officer and counterfeiting drug prescriptions, the latter of which would have given expungement eligibility to those who became addicted to opioids often originally prescribed by doctors. Most important to advocates, the new law overturns a 2022 Appellate Court of Maryland ruling that barred expungement for anyone who had violated their probation, even if the underlying charge was eligible under state law. The appeals decision originated with the case of a man, called Abhishek I. in court documents, who had pleaded guilty to low-level theft and was sentenced to probation. But he violated that probation when he was later arrested for marijuana possession, serving four days in jail. When he applied to have his theft conviction expunged a decade later, a judge denied his request, ruling that Abhishek's probation violation meant he had not satisfied the terms of his sentence and, therefore, was not eligible for expungement. Abhishek's attorneys unsuccessfully appealed the decision, with the Maryland appeals court ruling that the state's expungement laws at the time did not clearly address probation violations. The Expungement Reform Act provides that clarity by defining the satisfaction of a sentence as 'the time when a sentence has expired, including any period of probation, parole, or mandatory supervision.' Under that part of the law, which goes into effect in October of this year, a probation violation cannot automatically undermine an expungement application. Warnken called the governor's support for the Expungement Reform Act a 'game changer' that helped the Abhishek reform succeed. Aside from the Expungement Reform Act, all other expungement proposals died in committee during the most recent legislative session. Among other changes, those bills sought to make all criminal charges eligible for expungement and auto-expunge certain charges. When asked about his pardons and follow-up legislation earlier this year, Moore told reporters that he believes it is the 'responsibility' of the government to 'make sure that we're not just putting in laws that make sense in theory, but then we're also putting the supports in place to make people actually believe that redemption and efficient governance can be a reality for them as well.' 'Sometimes when you pass a really important piece of legislation or do things that I think are good, important, you still have to come back and make adjustments to make sure that it's being done correctly and being implemented properly,' the governor said. Warnken said the next frontier of cannabis reform in Maryland should include expanding relief — through pardons and legislation — for those with low-level, nonviolent criminal charges related to marijuana. 'The power of the pardon and the forgiveness is so profound and absolute, but it's not going to wipe it away from the record searches,' she said. 'These are all just steps and we have to keep going. We can't just take victory laps.' Katie Shepherd and Erin Cox contributed to this report.
USA Today
11-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
I first went to jail at 11. Coming home at 32, I entered a different kind of prison.
I first went to jail at 11. Coming home at 32, I entered a different kind of prison. | Opinion This isn't about erasing accountability. This is about recognizing rehabilitation, maturity and the human capacity for change. Show Caption Hide Caption More than 12,000 have had their records expunged as part of Project Clean Slate Project Clean Slate, started in 2016 by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, reached a milestone - and DeShaun is overjoyed to be No. 12,000. Fox - 2 Detroit I spent most of the first half of my life in carceral settings. My first incarceration was at 11 years old. By 17, I was serving what amounted to a juvenile life sentence, followed by 15 consecutive years in prison. When I came home at 32, I stepped into a different kind of prison: one built from stigma, systemic barriers and the persistent shadow of a criminal record. That's why clean slate, expungement and pardon legislation aren't abstract policy ideas to me ‒ they are deeply personal, transformational tools that can open doors otherwise locked shut. These aren't about erasing accountability. They're about recognizing rehabilitation, maturity and the human capacity for change. They're about giving people a real chance to rejoin the communities they never stopped loving. After my release, I refused to be defined by my record. Instead, I became the first formerly incarcerated person ever hired by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware. I helped anchor and launch the state's first federal reentry court, a visionary model that is still operating today and successfully serving Delawareans. I didn't just reenter society ‒ I helped reimagine what reentry could look like. But even with that level of access and success, I still faced unnecessary hurdles that clean slate legislation would have helped eliminate. Momentum for record-clearing legislation is growing Across the country, momentum for record-clearing legislation is growing. In recent months, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed the Expungement Reform Act into law, expanding eligibility for record clearance. Thousands of Marylanders who have stayed out of trouble and paid their dues now have a shot at housing, education and employment that was previously denied to them due to an outdated or irrelevant criminal record. This follows a broader national trend. Twelve states ‒ including Delaware, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Utah ‒ have enacted clean slate laws that automatically seal eligible criminal records after a certain period of time. Opinion: I worked for this office under the DOJ. Funding cuts will make you less safe. These laws increase employment, reduce recidivism and improve public safety. And they do it without requiring the person to navigate complicated and expensive legal processes that often disproportionately exclude the poor and people of color. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, nearly 1 in 3 American adults in the working age population has some type of criminal record, most of them for nonviolent offenses or arrests that never led to a conviction. Yet even decades later, these records can restrict access to housing, employment and education. The collateral consequences can be lifelong. We have a moral imperative to clean slates. We also have a financial one. The Center for Economic and Policy Research estimates that the U.S. economy loses between $78 and $87 billion annually in gross domestic product due to the employment barriers faced by people with criminal records. That's not just a policy failure ‒ it's an economic one. Opinion: PTSD can land veterans in prison. Restoring VA care honors sacrifices and struggles. Clean slate laws create stronger, more stable communities. When people can access jobs and housing, they pay taxes, raise their families and contribute to the fabric of our economy. The data is clear: When you give people a fair chance, most take it and run with it. At the federal level, the introduction of the Weldon Angelos Presidential Pardon Expungements Act is a potential game-changer. Named for a man who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for a first-time nonviolent offense and later pardoned, this bipartisan bill would allow people who have received presidential pardons to petition for record expungement. Currently, a pardon removes penalties but not the stigma. Even after a presidential pardon, individuals still face the barriers tied to their record. This bill would be the first of its kind to create a federal pathway for record expungement, offering real relief and real second chances. We have to close the federal gap We are living through a political moment where tough-on-crime rhetoric is once again on the rise. However, the facts don't support the fear. What we need now is not a return to mass incarceration, but a doubling down on policies that work: Clean slate laws, investment in reentry programs and fair hiring practices. These policies have broad bipartisan support. A recent Clean Slate Initiative survey found that both Democrats and Republicans in many states overwhelmingly back record clearance as a pathway to economic self-sufficiency, family stability and safer communities. I'm proud of what I've accomplished since coming home. I've built businesses, created training pipelines for returning citizens, and helped lead justice reform efforts at the local and national levels. None of that would have been possible without the belief ‒ first in myself, then from others ‒ that I could be more than the worst thing I ever did. Clean slate legislation codifies that belief into law. It says to every person coming home: You are more than your past. You deserve a future. Let's make sure our laws reflect that truth, not just for me, but for the millions who are still locked out of opportunity, even after serving their M. Soliman is the founder of Soliman Consulting LLC and is serving a four-year appointment on the Delaware Workforce Development Board.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Wes Moore signs legislation to expand criminal record expungement
ANNAPOLIS, Md. () — Gov. Wes Moore signed the Expungement Reform Act into law Tuesday, a new Maryland bill that aims to help people who have been incarcerated better reintegrate into society by alleviating the lasting impacts of criminal records. Employment, housing, education and professional licenses become difficult to obtain for many formerly incarcerated individuals due to their criminal records, advocates say. The , which the governor championed, would expand convictions that can be removed from a record, including credit card theft and driving without a license, among other offenses. The legislation will also allow those who violated their parole or probation to petition to have their records wiped clean; however, this will only be permitted for certain offenses, such as minor traffic crimes and convictions related to alcohol and cannabis. Even in those cases, people will still have to complete their sentence and probation. If the expungement request is accepted, the conviction will be removed from any public, police or court records. WATCH: Anne Arundel County police rescue man from Twin Harbors marina The bill corrects a technicality created by decision, which ruled that any probation violation, regardless of how minor, renders a conviction ineligible for expungement, since the sentence would be incomplete. The signed legislation also expands on the governor's , which pardoned 175,000 Maryland convictions related to cannabis possession. During Tuesday's bill signing, Gov. Wes Moore emphasized that a technical violation should not be held against someone for the rest of their life. 'We've got to confront this myth that every sentence needs to be a life sentence. These Marylanders have served their time, and they paid their debt to society, and they often have no more than a simple technical violation of their parole,' said Moore. 'All they're asking for is a simple second chance. The Expungement Reform Act will help us to build new pipelines, opportunities for more Marylanders, and advance our commitment to uplifting young men and boys in our state,' he continued. The law will take effect on Oct. 1, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Criminal record expungement, parole reform measures signed into law
Gov. Wes Moore (D) embraces Carlos Battle, who spent 10 years trying to get his record expunged. He said no one should have to wait that long, and hopes the Expungement Reform Act signed Tuesday makes it so no one else has to. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters) Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed a suite of justice reform bills into law Tuesday that will make it easier for long-serving inmates to apply for parole, make age and illness a factor in parole considerations and streamline the process for people seeking to expunge their records after serving their time. The bills, some of which advocates have been pushing for years, demonstrate what House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) called the legislature's ongoing efforts 'to create a more equitable criminal justice system' in state that 'incarcerates the highest percentage of Black people in the country.' 'So this year, we passed several bills to address these statistics, including the Second Look Act, the governor's Expungement Reform Act, and legislation to improve the mcdical parole process,' Jones said at Tuesday's bill-signing, the second since the end of the 2025 legislative session. Jones, Moore and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) signed 142 bills into law Tuesday. They also included a measure aimed at protecting federal workers from Trump administration budget cuts and another aimed at protecting the state from the potentially crushing financial burden of lawsuits brought by people who were abused as children while in state custody, after a then-hailed change state law made it easier to bring such suits. Moore touted Senate Bill 432, the Expungement Reform Act, which was part of his legislative agenda. Advocates say that criminal records can prevent people from getting jobs, loans or housing, no matter how long ago the crime was committed, but that the process expunging a criminal record can be cumbersome and sometimes impossible. Court likely next stop as overhaul of Child Victims Act is signed into law 'We know, that for too many Marylanders, their criminal record … is tied around their necks for the rest of life. They cannot get a loan, they cannot get a home, they cannot get hired and ofentimes it's because of an offense that they committed years, if not decades ago,' Moore said. 'We have got to confront this myth that every sentence needs to be a life sentence.' SB432 expands the current list of more than crimes for which a person may seek expungement to include credit card theft, making a false statement to police and driving without a license, among others. It also corrects a technicality that made parole violations count against the successful fulfillment of a person's sentence, effectively barring someone permanently from seeking expungment if they violated parole somewhere along the way. 'As soon as the bill becomes effective, I think you're going to see some impact,' said Sen. Charles Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County), a co-sponsor of the act. 'Right after the effective date, people that wouldn't have been helped the day before are going to be helped so, there's going to be immediate action.' Officials also signed into law measures aimed at giving people still serving time a shot at getting out on parole. Those measures were often the subject of emotional debate during the legislative session, and sometimes surprising personal stories from lawmakers talking about their own experiences as victims of crime. House Bill 853, the Second Look Act, would give people who have been incarcerated for at least 20 years the ability to petition for a sentence reduction if they met several other criteria. It would not be available to sex offenders, people sentenced to life without chance of parole, those who were older than 25 when they committed or those convicted of killing a first responder. The last criterion was one of a series of disqualifying crimes that opponents of the bill offered as amendments, all of which failed except for the first responder amendment. It as accepted by the Senate in the waning days of the legislative session, threatening to derail the bill, but the House accepted the change and gave final approval to the bill after years of trying by advocates. Del. Cheryl Pasteur (D-Baltimore County) said at the time that she was not a fan of the amendment, but willing to accept to get the Second Look Act on the books. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'It's just a good and promising start,' Pasteur said after Tuesday's bill signing. She predicts that the bill will do more than help the incarcerated individuals who might have their sentences shortened, but will benefit communities as well. 'For those that come out, just think of how they can positively interact with the young people.' Critics had argued, some passionately, that allowing inmates to petition for a sentence reduction would deny justice to the victims, and force them to relive the crimes again years later. They argued that people who had committed particulary heinous crimes did not deserve a second chance. But supporters of the bill said repeatedly that it is not a 'get out of jail free' card, but just a chance to recognize inmates who have turned their lives around and might be able to contribute to society. The petitions are reviewed by judges in the courts that convicted an individual, and an incarcerated individual who is turned down would have to wait three years to reapply. Inmates would only be able to petition three times. Pasteur called the signing 'an incredible day' and said she has formed a committee to 'monitor … everybody that comes out under this bill' to measure its impact. Sydnor recognized the opposition to the bill, but said he believes it will be a positive overall. 'There are some people, I believe, may not see the utility in doing things like this. But I believe in grace and the Second Chance bill,' he said. He could not explain the sudden success of justice reform measures, some of which advocates have been pushing for years. 'A lot of work by a lot of people … No one legislator by his or herself,' he said, acknowledging lawmakers in the past who worked steadily on the measures.' This happened to be the year. everything came together, just people in the right places at the right time.' Also signed into law yesterday were House Bill 1123 and Senate Bill 181, which would require parole hearings for long-serving inmates over age 60 and for those with severe medical conditions. Almost lost in the rush of justice reform bills was House Bill 1424, the Protect Our Federal Workers Act, which was sponsored by Del. Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George's) after the scale of budget and job cuts planned by President Donald Trump started to become evident. The bill would take a current state fund that has been used to help federal workers get over any hurdles from a temporary government shutdown, and would shift that into a new fund that would be used to help. federal workers who permanently lose their jobs because of administration budget cuttig. The Federal Government Employee Assistance Loan Fund would be buttressed with $5 million from the state's Rainy Day Fund. The bill als gives the Office of the Attorney General new authority to defend federal employees, or take legal action on their behalf because of federal government shutdowns, firings, office relocations or agency closures. With 160,000 federal government jobs in the state, and 260,000 federal workers living in the state, Moore said 'these are our people' and must be defended. His administration has said that weaning the state away from its reliance on the federal government is one of its economic goals. Jones said the bill would 'fight back against chaos and hostility caused by the Trump administration.' 'We knew from Day One that Donald Trump would be coming after our federal workers,' Jones said. 'We recognize that we might not be able to beat the federal government when it comes to job loss or funding cuts or immigration, but …. that doesn't mean that we are going to stop fighting. 'With that, let's protect Marylanders and let's sign these bills,' she said to applause.
CBS News
22-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Maryland Gov. Moore to sign several new bills into law following end of 2025 legislative session
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will sign several bills into law Tuesday, including the Expungement Reform Act , which will expand the types of convictions that can be removed from a person's criminal record. This legislation would allow certain convictions to be expunged once a person has completed their sentence, including probation. If the expungement request is accepted, the conviction would then be removed from any public police or court records. The governor will hold a bill signing ceremony Tuesday at noon. The bill expands the types of crimes that can be expunged from a person's record. Under the bill, minor traffic crimes, some misdemeanors like alcohol or cannabis offenses, and some domestic-related offenses can be expunged from a person's record. Some felonies, like the distribution of cannabis, could also be expunged under certain circumstances. In most instances, a person will be able to request that a conviction be expunged five years after they complete their sentence or pay restitution. However, for domestic-related crimes, a person would have to wait 15 years to file an expungement request. For felonies, a person would need to wait seven years after they complete their sentence. The state's attorney or a victim can object to the expungement, in which case a court would have to hold a hearing before accepting or rejecting the request. A conviction would not be eligible for expungement if the person is awaiting a trial or conviction for another crime. During the ceremony on Tuesday, Gov. Moore will also sign the Protect Our Federal Workers Act, which will allocate funding to assist federal workers impacted by mass layoffs. The bill will rename the Federal Government Shutdown Employee Assistance Loan Fund to the Federal Government Employee Assistance Loan Fund. Under the bill, funds in the state's Catastrophic Event Account can be used to support out-of-work federal employees. The Trump administration's federal workforce cuts have prompted several Maryland and local leaders to take action. Gov. Moore has announced several resources for workers , including partnerships that aim to increase job opportunities. According to the governor's office, Maryland has about 160,000 federal civilian employees who represent about 6% of jobs in the state. In early April, Gov. Moore signed more than 90 bills into law , including a package of legislation that addresses rising energy prices. Another bill, the Maryland Second Chance Act, allows people convicted of a crime between 18 and 25 to request a reduced sentence after serving at least 20 years in prison. The governor also signed a bill that created a commission to study potential reparations for slavery and racial discrimination.
