University of St. Thomas School of Law Professor Mark Osler is part of a newly launched, national effort to create a comprehensive expungement process for non-violent federal offenses. He is one of the founders of the Federal Expungement Initiative, which hopes to open a pathway through the federal courts for individuals who have completed their sentence, but face challenges in areas like housing and employment after their release because they have a criminal record.
"Millions of Americans are held back by old criminal records, years after they’ve served their time," Osler said. "We’re fighting for a solution that restores hope, dignity and opportunity for those who have paid their debt to society."
Expungement removes a criminal record from official databases, preventing it from being accessed during background checks or by the general public. It remains accessible to law enforcement and certain government agencies, however.
Most states have established expungement systems through which individuals can ask a judge to seal their records after conditions and/or an amount of time has been met. Leaders of the new initiative say the federal system offers no statutory opportunity for expungement and that it will ask Congress to create one.
Other co-founders of the Federal Expungement Initiative include Jeff Grant, Esq., of the White Collar Support Group™, Rachel Barkow, a professor at the New York University School of Law and Douglas Berman, a professor at The Ohio State University Moritz School of Law.
Learn more about the Federal Expungement Initiative.
Liam James Doyle / University of St. Thomas
