Trends In Expungement Laws

The broadening of the availability of expungement in states all a cross the country during the past 4 years has revealed interesting things about the politics of expungement and laws that pertain to the maintenance and distribution of criminal records.   Examining the trends reveals positive news for those who favor the expansion of expungement laws.

There have been about 20 expansions of expungement related laws during the past 4 years.  Geographically, the changes have been spread almost equally throughout each region (the Pacific Time Zone has had the fewest laws enacted).

Expungement has typically been championed by groups that work with former offenders and liberal coalitions.  When expungement laws are opposed, they are typically opposed by law enforcement.   Accordingly, one would think that Democrat lawmakers would be the ones sponsoring and enacting expungement laws and that Republicans would be the ones opposing expungement laws.  

It turns out that the opposite is true.

What is most notable is that most of the states that have expanded expungment laws were states that were governed by Republican legislators and governors.  Even more notable is that states with what some would call the most liberal expungement laws are typically considered very conservative states, such as Utah.

According to the Foundation for Continuing Justice, a non-profit foundation that tracks expungement related laws, 19 states have passed expungement laws in the past 4 years, and 10 of them were passed and enacted in states that had Republican controlled legislatures and Republican governors.  In contrast, there were only five bills passed in enacted in states with Democrat controlled legislatures and governors.  The other four laws were enacted in states where there was a split in political power between the party controlling the legislature and the party of the governor. 

So why are Republican lawmakers passing bills that are supported by liberal coalitions?  The answer is simple said a legislative assistant (who asked to be nameless) Salt Lake City, Utah.  “Democrats have deathly fear of appearing soft on crime and they think that supporting expungement laws will make the susceptible attacks of helping criminals,” she said.  “They are quick to vote for the laws, but they are slow to sponsor them.”

That is not always the case.  Some Democrats are fighting for criminal record expungement laws in states where Democrats are in the minority.   The Pennsylvania just passed an expungement bill that greatly expands expungement.  It was sponsored by Senator Tim Solobay and passed in committee and the full Senate without a single vote against it. The bill even had support from law enforcement leaders.

The good news is that the one trend that is dominating is that access to expungement is increasing.  There hasn’t been a bill that reduces expungement in at least the past 6 years.