Debate tips toward clean crime records

"MN Legislature"

02/27/2007

By Pat Doyle,
Star Tribune
Last update: February 26, 2007 – 11:43 PM


More people convicted of crimes could legally conceal their criminal records from the public under legislation promoted by some community and legal aid groups and opposed by prosecutors.

The bill, which would expand eligibility for having criminal records sealed, is advancing in the Senate, where the Judiciary Committee approved it Monday night.

Proponents argue that changing state law to allow more expansive use of expungements would make it easier for people with arrests and convictions on their record to get jobs and housing. And they say the move would have the effect of reaffirming some judicial power diminished by a 2004 court ruling.

But opponents say the changes would undermine the long-standing principle of accountability in the criminal justice system and would deny the public access to information valuable for making decisions.

"Do you want to hire a nanny who has an excessive discipline conviction?" asked Phil Carruthers, who testified Monday against the bill.

"As a small-business person, do you want to hire as a cashier somebody with a theft conviction?" asked Carruthers, the director of prosecution at the Ramsey County Attorney's Office and a former House speaker.

How things might change

State statute specifically allows judges to seal records of drug cases that don't result in convictions, adult prosecution of juveniles and some other criminal proceedings that are resolved in favor of defendants. In addition, judges can exercise broad discretion inherent in the judicial system to seal court records for a variety of other reasons.

Carruthers said the proposal would create "a huge expansion" of instances in which a person's criminal record is eligible for sealing.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, would explicitly allow under statute the sealing of most conviction, arrest and other criminal justice documents held by the courts and state and local government agencies. Exceptions would be made for the convictions of registered sex offenders, murders committed in connection with a sexual assault, kidnappings and some other offenses.

Law enforcement and the state agency that licenses day care may have access to sealed records.

The bill would repeal a state law that describes expungement as "an extraordinary remedy to be granted only upon clear and convincing evidence" that the benefit to the person is commensurate with the disadvantages to public safety. The proposal would require that the benefit to the person outweigh the disadvantages to the public but would lower the burden of proof needed to seal records.

Ortman said the proposal guides judges on what to consider in determining whether to grant an expungement. It says a judge would hold a hearing on a motion to seal records and should weigh steps a person has made toward rehabilitation, a victim's statement and other factors.

"We're looking for evidence of rehabilitation" that would justify sealing a criminal record to make it easier for someone to get a job, Ortman said.

Touched by technology

There have been nearly 4,000 expungements since 2000 in Minnesota.

The Council on Crime and Justice, a Minneapolis nonprofit, has called for allowing a more expansive use of expungements in part because technology has made it easier for people to access public records.

"It's become much more necessary that this relief be available with increasing number of background checks for employment, for housing, for credit, insurance, education," said Tom Johnson, president of the council and a former Hennepin County attorney. "It is very difficult for a person who has committed some property offense at 18 or 19 to escape the barriers that that record presents, even though they've made every effort to turn their life around and they're now 30 years old."

Johnson said the bill would essentially reaffirm the ability of judges to seal criminal records held by state and local governments for a wide variety of offenses, an authority that the Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected in 2004. That decision allowed judges to continue sealing criminal court records.

But Carruthers countered that it's important to allow the broader public access to the records of convicted criminals. "Sometimes it should affect their ability to get a job," he said.

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Expungement at a glance


What it is: Judges have power to "expunge," or seal, court and police records in criminal cases. Most background checks will not find expunged records.

What might change: The situations and types of cases that state law explicitly makes eligible for expungement would expand. Today, the law specifically allows expungement in minor drug cases, juvenile cases and other cases that do not produce convictions. However, judges have discretion to order expungement for a variety of other cases when they rule that circumstances warrant.

Why/why not: Advocates say people with criminal records need a chance to start over and find jobs and housing. Opponents say public safety could be at risk if backgrounds cannot be scrutinized.