Come January, more than 80,000 people with criminal convictions in Connecticut will have their records wiped clean, thanks to a state law.
The Clean Slate Law was first signed by Governor Ned Lamont back in 2021 and after a lengthy delay, it's nearing full implementation.
It wipes certain lower-level felonies and misdemeanors from people’s records, though those with family violence or sex crime convictions will not have their records expunged.
Eligible charges include most misdemeanors (once it has been seven years since the most recent conviction) and most Class D, E and unclassified felony convictions after 10 years, if no new crimes are committed in that time.
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Over the next month, over 173,000 convictions will be automatically erased.
Those with convictions before January of 2000 must file a petition through the courts with this link.
“Today is about second chances and redemption,” Rev. Dr. Philippe Andal from Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut said.
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Advocates filled Community Baptist Church in New Haven on Monday to celebrate the news.
“What we have been doing is purposely leaving people behind. Purposely leaving people in shackles that you can’t see,” Senator Gary Winfield of New Haven said.
Also celebrating are those this law affects, like Helen Caraballo. She was arrested back in 2011 as a 21-year-old and has been facing the repercussions ever since.
“Since then, I have been serving another sentence. Not one that the judge imposed, but one that has been very real with employers, landlords, schools and professions that have judged me ever since,” Caraballo said.
It’s been 12 years since her conviction and this year, she said she was turned down from a job after three rounds of interviews following a background check.
“No matter what my resume said, no matter how my interview went, no matter how much experience I had, I was always judged by my record,” Caraballo said.
She said she’s grateful for the second chance, and to give her family a better life.
“They’ll look at me as a person and what I can bring to their company, or who I am to the community, instead of what I did in the past,” she said. “This has been the best Christmas present that I could have ever gotten.”
