TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF HB 685:

POLICE & COURT RECORDS – NUISANCE CRIMES – EXPUNGEMENT

TO: Hon. Joseph Vallario, Chair, and members of the House Judiciary Committee

FROM: Jason Perkins-Cohen, Executive Director

DATE: February 26, 2008

The Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF) is an independent, nonprofit organization that advocates better jobs, skills training, and wages for low-income workers and job seekers in Maryland. We strongly support HB 685 as a means of increasing the employability of job seekers with criminal records.

In economically distressed areas throughout Maryland, low-income Marylanders are convicted of offenses that are disproportionately associated with poverty, such as loitering, vagrancy, panhandling, and sleeping on park benches, among others. The appearance of such “nuisance crimes” on an individual’s criminal history record acts as such a significant barrier to employment.

HB 685 would reduce barriers to employment by allowing individuals with specific minor convictions to expunge them from the public record after a three-year waiting period. These are minor nuisance crimes that unrelated to drugs, theft, sex, or violence. This legislation would be a major step toward connecting willing, able job seekers with employment opportunities that would help them turn their lives around.

If this bill becomes law, Maryland would join 17 other states, including California, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina that permit the expungement of convictions under certain circumstances.

Research clearly shows that a criminal record is a major impediment to securing a job. Individuals convicted of a nuisance crime will have to wait for three years before they can seek to expunge their record. Given the filing fee and the bureaucracy to navigate, the only reason for a person to pursue expungement is if they are truly seeking to improve their employment possibilities. People who have made a mistake need to have an opportunity to work so that they can provide for their families and be productive members of society. HB 685 gives them this chance. JOTF respectfully encourages a favorable report.