​Record Clearing.

Long after their justice involvement ends, individuals with a history of arrest and/or criminal conviction face several restrictions that limit important opportunities, including those related to employment, education, military service, voting, and housing. To help prevent these negative impacts for individuals with a limited criminal history, the Pennsylvania legislature created a process and procedure for expungement, or the erasure of a formal arrest or conviction record.  

However, the expungement process is not automatic—an individual seeking to expunge some or all of their criminal records must file a petition with the court of the county in which their arrest(s) or conviction(s) occurred. Additionally, the process is not simple, nor is it free; there are multiple steps of the process, many of which include fees (e.g., payment to obtain a copy of the criminal record, payment to file the petition with the court).  

To facilitate individuals taking advantage of their expungement opportunities and increase employment access, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (UWGPSNJ), in partnership with The Promise and The Knowledge Center (UWGPSNJ-affiliated organizations), is supporting the development and implementation of a city-wide Expungement Initiative, which will include approximately 30 expungement clinics operated by lawyers from multiple legal organizations at events hosted by community-based organizations in neighborhoods across Philadelphia.  

Evaluating Outcomes of A City-Wide Record Clearing Initiative ​

The JJR&R Lab is partnering with United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, The Promise, and The Knowledge Center, as well as with individuals with lived criminal justice system experience, to evaluate the implementation and outcomes of the Expungement Clinic initiative. In doing so, the JJR&R Lab will identify:

• Who is being served by the initiative,
• Whether it is achieving its stated goals, and
• How to improve program efforts and outcomes.

The Lab is currently conducting a mixed-methods evaluation in two parts. First, in the Pilot Phase, The Lab will focus on the experiences of staff and clients, with an eye toward helping community partners create high quality clinics throughout the initiative. Then, in the Full-Scale Operational Phase, the JJR&R Lab will focus on examining clinic implementation to help establish a best practice model for future expungement clinics, and the Lab will also examine outcomes of these clinics on people's lives—on their future employment, housing stability, health care access, stress levels, and a wide variety of other aspects of wellbeing that appear to be impacted by the existence of a criminal record.

In the Media

• The United Way - "The Research Is In: Why Record Clearing is Critical to Philadelphia’s Workforce Development Strategy"
• The United Way - "The Promise’s Record Clearing Initiative: Reflecting on six-months"
• The Philadelphia Inquirer - "There are 400,000 people in Philly with convictions and criminal records. Expungement clinics can offer a fresh start."
• Drexel News & Events - "United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey Provides CoAS Faculty with Grant for The Promise’s New City-Wide Expungement Initiative"

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