Why Connecticut’s communities of faith should support legislation

At the start of the 2020 legislative session, Gov. Ned Lamont introduced his legislative priorities, which included criminal justice reforms. As a Catholic who works on public policy, I see every day how our bloated criminal legal system undermines much of what we hold dear. That is why this is an opportunity for Connecticut’s faith communities to assert the continued relevance of their values.

People of faith must transform this system because as it stands, it makes our most benign aims impossible. It sabotages any ambition to harness national resources toward the common good. It punishes poor people with more poverty, splintering already fractured communities. It rests on the belief that anyone caught in its web is irredeemable and broken beyond repair.

The centerpiece of Gov. Lamont’s proposals was a version of so-called “clean slate” legislation, which would automatically expunge the criminal records of people convicted of low-level misdemeanors after remaining crime free for seven years. The bill also laid out details about how to administer and fund the program. This is an important start, but we need a more robust response to the current crisis.

In Connecticut, all formerly incarcerated people are eligible to apply to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to have their records expunged after three years for misdemeanors, and five years for felonies. It’s a long, confusing process. Many require costly legal assistance. These factors dramatically suppress participation. Clean slate would automate this inefficient process. California, Pennsylvania, and Utah have already passed their own versions in the last two years.

A third of American adults have a criminal record. Nationally, 40% of white men and 50% of black men will get arrested at least once by age 23. Under our current system, this mass of young people risk joining the underclass whose membership in society is challenged at every turn.

In Connecticut, there were 96,000 arrests in 2018. That might be understandable if we were living in unusually violent times, but we are not. Only 3.4% of those 96,000 arrests were for violent offenses, and even fewer resulted in convictions, but 100% of them resulted in a criminal record.

Nearly 9 in 10 employers, 4 in 5 landlords, and 2 in 3 colleges use background checks, denying formerly incarcerated people the opportunity to support themselves and their families. We say we want returning citizens to reintegrate into society, but we set them up to be cut off from the building blocks of life: shelter, education, community, and a livable wage. Connecticut deserves a clean slate because right now we are asking the impossible of people who have already been punished.

A clean slate for many is not an idealistic aim; data shows that real second chances work. A 2019 study in the

found that in Michigan, people saw a 25% boost to their income just two years after their records were sealed. Imagine the possibilities that type of raise provided for their children and local economies. The study’s other major finding: The cumbersome petition-based system — not unlike Connecticut’s — depressed participation.

Another study of U.S. military personnel found that those who entered with criminal records were no more likely to be discharged for negative reasons than their peers with no record. In fact, many were promoted more rapidly and to higher ranks than others. Most people are willing to work to succeed when given a genuine second chance.

A real clean slate would include at least most misdemeanors and Class C, D, and E felonies as championed by Sen. Winfield and Rep. Stafstrom in Senate Bill 403. It would provide anti-discrimination protections for people with a criminal record. It would apply retroactively to provide relief to those currently suffering under the unjust burden of a criminal record. Finally, it would shorten the already lengthy 3- and 5-year waiting periods for eligibility.

Statewide, people of faith are demanding these changes. The Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance have joined sister organization, Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, in demanding a robust bill. The two organizations alone consist of over 64 dues-paying institutions and tens of thousands of constituents in three counties.

We are fighting for clean slate as an expression of our many faiths. If Connecticut does not change course, the very possibility of care for one’s neighbor will be permanently replaced by suspicion of the other. No religious person can abide that hazard.