What will be different about the expungement process if that bill is signed into law?
If signed into law, bill S-3205 would make more crimes eligible for expungement — including offenses involving controlled dangerous substances — and cut down the wait time to three years. It would also establish an expedited expungement process for marijuana-related offenses and create an "e-filing" system for expungement petitions.
A new "clean slate" program would wipe away all offenses at once for anyone who has a clean record for 10 years after their last offense.
“Expungements are essential. They demonstrate that there has been a bona fide, good faith effort on behalf of the client to resume legal normalcy within the community,” former Gov. Jim McGreevey told the Senate Health committee on Monday.
“That cleanser — that after a 10-year period of time, the entire record is expunged — enables someone to have a fresh start.
"If we don’t enable individuals to have the means to be gainfully employed, we will never bring them back into civil society.”