明尼蘇達州在五月份就立法通過犯罪前科刪除法案，關閉輕微犯罪者之前科，給予重新做人、再生之機。
輕微犯罪者經過標籤化之後求職求學碰壁，可能最後就只能終身從事犯罪。
Criminal records expungement bill to become law
來源：http://www.kare11.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/14/criminal-records-expungement-bill-to-become-law/9104059/
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A bill designed to help former low level offenders move ahead with their lives will become law in Minnesota.
Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday signed the criminal records expungement bill, a notion that gained bipartisan support during the 2014 session.
The new law will allow people convicted of misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and some low-level felonies to get their criminal records sealed, helping with job prospects and housing.
"It's very, very destructive to our society if we're just excluding people pro-forma because of something increasingly in their past," Dayton told reporters after putting his signature on the measure.
Among those who joined Dayton for the signing ceremony was Katie Tourand, a Burnsville woman who has turned her life around after two relatively minor convictions in her past. But she's been tripped up by company policies against hiring persons with criminal records.
"I understand people need to be held accountable and sometimes can't hold certain jobs," Tourand told reporters.
"What I don't understand is the perpetual punishment I've had to endure after close to a decade of being crime free and proving myself."
Tourand had a drug possession conviction in 2003 when she was 18. In 2005, at age 20, she pled guilty to aiding and abetting check forgery. Since then she's reunited with her family, joined a church and worked her way through college.
She earned a marketing degree at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, but has had three good job offers rescinded. Tourand lost out on jobs at Wells Fargo, SPS Commerce and most recently at Met Life after routine background checks.
"Met Life offered me a position in their sales training program. Three weeks ago that offer was rescinded due to my criminal background," Tourand explained.
Under the terms of the new expungement law Tourand will be eligible to get her records sealed in 2016, two years from now. But she may be hired before that if a company chooses to do so.
In fact, as Tourand stepped away from the lectern in the Governor's Reception Room at the State Capitol, Gov. Dayton shook her hand and asked, "You want a job?"
How it will work
Those looking to seal their records would have to first complete probation and then to go through a waiting period of two to five years, depending on the time of crime. But it's not automatic.
After the waiting period ends a person may petition the court for expungement. The judge will also have an opportunity to hear from victims and prosecutors before ruling on whether to seal the criminal records in question.
Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judges will still have access to the sealed records. Companies that specialize in culling criminal records and selling them to employers for background checks would be required to removed sealed records from their databases.
"We want to make sure those companies understand and know if they have outdated information or their records are not accurate, they have to rectify that situation," Sen. Bobby Joe Champion of Minneapolis, the chief author of the bill in the Senate, explained.
He noted that a lot of the information employers retrieve from criminal background searches is inaccurate, reflecting the original charge but not the final adjudication following the court process.
At the same time the bill protects businesses from civil liability if an employee with an expunged record creates a serious problem for a customer or client that results in a lawsuit.
"We do want to protect businesses. We want businesses to create the type of opportunity that our governor so eloquently talked about," Sen. Champion remarked.
Spirit of Atonement
Champion also authored the Ban the Box bill the legislature passed in 2013 in an effort to get one-time offenders to the job interview stage in the hiring process before they have to disclose their past crimes. He used an analogy from golf, comparing Ban the Box with hitting the ball to the fairway and exungement as reaching the green.
The expungement bill could affect thousands of former offenders, according to Mark Haase of the Council on Crime and Justice, depending on how many take advantage of the new law.
"We're talking about people who've had some of these convictions, 10 to 15 to 20 to 30 years ago," Haase said.
"The thing we have a problem with is when people are unreasonably held back from reaching their full potential long after they have paid for their mistakes."
Rep. Carly Melin of Hibbing, the chief author in the House, said too many Minnesotans are denied access to meaningful work, good housing or even slots in graduate schools because of records that have no reflection on the people they've become.
"These are people that made one or two mistakes when they were young and unfortunately haven't been unable to move on and gain employment, and housing opportunities," Rep. Melin said.
The Minnesota County Attorneys Association, the MN Second Chance Coalition, the MN Coalition of Battered Women and the MN Coalition Against Sexual Assault were among the groups the lined up in support of the bill.
One reform that remains elusive is the idea of allowing convicted felons to take part in elections as soon as they're released from custody. As it stands they must wait until they've completed probation before regaining the right to vote in Minnesota.
輕微犯罪者經過標籤化之後求職求學碰壁，可能最後就只能終身從事犯罪。
Criminal records expungement bill to become law
來源：http://www.kare11.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/14/criminal-records-expungement-bill-to-become-law/9104059/
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A bill designed to help former low level offenders move ahead with their lives will become law in Minnesota.
Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday signed the criminal records expungement bill, a notion that gained bipartisan support during the 2014 session.
The new law will allow people convicted of misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and some low-level felonies to get their criminal records sealed, helping with job prospects and housing.
"It's very, very destructive to our society if we're just excluding people pro-forma because of something increasingly in their past," Dayton told reporters after putting his signature on the measure.
Among those who joined Dayton for the signing ceremony was Katie Tourand, a Burnsville woman who has turned her life around after two relatively minor convictions in her past. But she's been tripped up by company policies against hiring persons with criminal records.
"I understand people need to be held accountable and sometimes can't hold certain jobs," Tourand told reporters.
"What I don't understand is the perpetual punishment I've had to endure after close to a decade of being crime free and proving myself."
Tourand had a drug possession conviction in 2003 when she was 18. In 2005, at age 20, she pled guilty to aiding and abetting check forgery. Since then she's reunited with her family, joined a church and worked her way through college.
She earned a marketing degree at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, but has had three good job offers rescinded. Tourand lost out on jobs at Wells Fargo, SPS Commerce and most recently at Met Life after routine background checks.
"Met Life offered me a position in their sales training program. Three weeks ago that offer was rescinded due to my criminal background," Tourand explained.
Under the terms of the new expungement law Tourand will be eligible to get her records sealed in 2016, two years from now. But she may be hired before that if a company chooses to do so.
In fact, as Tourand stepped away from the lectern in the Governor's Reception Room at the State Capitol, Gov. Dayton shook her hand and asked, "You want a job?"
How it will work
Those looking to seal their records would have to first complete probation and then to go through a waiting period of two to five years, depending on the time of crime. But it's not automatic.
After the waiting period ends a person may petition the court for expungement. The judge will also have an opportunity to hear from victims and prosecutors before ruling on whether to seal the criminal records in question.
Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judges will still have access to the sealed records. Companies that specialize in culling criminal records and selling them to employers for background checks would be required to removed sealed records from their databases.
"We want to make sure those companies understand and know if they have outdated information or their records are not accurate, they have to rectify that situation," Sen. Bobby Joe Champion of Minneapolis, the chief author of the bill in the Senate, explained.
He noted that a lot of the information employers retrieve from criminal background searches is inaccurate, reflecting the original charge but not the final adjudication following the court process.
At the same time the bill protects businesses from civil liability if an employee with an expunged record creates a serious problem for a customer or client that results in a lawsuit.
"We do want to protect businesses. We want businesses to create the type of opportunity that our governor so eloquently talked about," Sen. Champion remarked.
Spirit of Atonement
Champion also authored the Ban the Box bill the legislature passed in 2013 in an effort to get one-time offenders to the job interview stage in the hiring process before they have to disclose their past crimes. He used an analogy from golf, comparing Ban the Box with hitting the ball to the fairway and exungement as reaching the green.
The expungement bill could affect thousands of former offenders, according to Mark Haase of the Council on Crime and Justice, depending on how many take advantage of the new law.
"We're talking about people who've had some of these convictions, 10 to 15 to 20 to 30 years ago," Haase said.
"The thing we have a problem with is when people are unreasonably held back from reaching their full potential long after they have paid for their mistakes."
Rep. Carly Melin of Hibbing, the chief author in the House, said too many Minnesotans are denied access to meaningful work, good housing or even slots in graduate schools because of records that have no reflection on the people they've become.
"These are people that made one or two mistakes when they were young and unfortunately haven't been unable to move on and gain employment, and housing opportunities," Rep. Melin said.
The Minnesota County Attorneys Association, the MN Second Chance Coalition, the MN Coalition of Battered Women and the MN Coalition Against Sexual Assault were among the groups the lined up in support of the bill.
One reform that remains elusive is the idea of allowing convicted felons to take part in elections as soon as they're released from custody. As it stands they must wait until they've completed probation before regaining the right to vote in Minnesota.
沒有留言:
張貼留言