The case for expungement

Statistics show that most crimes are committed by young people; and when it comes to violent crimes, rarely by older persons.

Criminologists have a variety of explanations for this phenomenon but they generally agree: The vast majority of violent crimes are committed by young people.

Aside from the roots of the problem, there is also serious, long-term damage caused to young criminals that has no effect on deterring crime: crimes they commit when they are young stay on the criminal record long after punishment.

In some cases, that’s unfortunate. Criminal expungements — by which a person petitions the court to “seal” their records — are very difficult to obtain. Without an expungement, the effects of a crime committed in a person’s youth will follow them long after they’ve become a productive member of society.

Sympathy for these criminals will be hard to find. In today’s environment, even the slightest offensive crime draws comments such as: “He should be jailed for life” or some such vitriol. Comments to news stories on criminal sentencing invariably includes: “Is that all he got for his crime?”

But criminal penalties have been established through long-term scientific study. Criminologists believe society is generally protected by the sentencing guidelines and they are fair.

The expungement laws were changed in 2015 to reflect the harsh consequences of, for example, being unable to get housing, being denied employment, and losing professional licenses. So expungements should be made easier to attain in certain cases.

To be fair, the victim should be consulted and have an input on any request. A public court hearing should be held with proper notice to law enforcement and the public. And the court should grant the expungement only when the benefit to the criminal outweighs the effect on public safety.

The general public is probably not going to rally around a cause such as making expungements easier. But the public will benefit, ultimately, if more expungements are granted in certain situations.

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