The Clean Slate Act, which automatically seals most criminal records if people stay out of trouble for a certain amount of time, is now in effect in New York State.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed it into law last year.
Here’s how it works:
People with misdemeanor convictions on their records will have those records sealed in most cases after three years. People with felonies will have those convictions sealed after eight years.
The Clean Slate Act doesn’t apply to more serious crimes such as homicides and sexual crimes. Also, records will be available to check for employers of jobs involving children, law enforcement and banking.
Buffalo attorney John Elmore explained that this new law opens up possibilities for people trying to do the right thing.
“There are a lot of people who have made tremendous strides in rehabilitating themselves and they’re unable to get a decent paying job to feed their families and their loved ones and provide for themselves. And so as a result, the taxpayers now are helping to foot their bills with social services and things like that. And so the legislature felt that it would be good to get these people working and off the public payrolls,” he said.