Earlier today the Governor's office announced the first wave of pardons granted for cannabis convictions as part of the automatic expungement process. But in addition to those, Governor Pritzker also granted 20 pardons from the normal group of those seeking clemency. This represents the first major batch of clemency decisions released by the Governor. Among the offenses receiving clemency were battery, drug possession, attempted burglary and theft.

One of my clients was included in the 20 receiving pardons. To the rest, congratulations on being able to start the new year with a chance for a clean slate! As a reminder, you will still need to seek the expungement separately in court.

Today, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker released the first wave of pardons for misdemeanor convictions of cannabis possession. As part of the new process to automatically expunge misdemeanor cannabis cases, Pritzker granted clemency for 11,017 cases. Reportedly, there are about 572,000 total records (convictions or otherwise) eligible for automatic expungement.

The new law also allows for petitioners to seek expungement directly in the court rather than wait for the automatic process to play out. It also allows for low level felony cannabis cases to be expunged in court. Felony cases are not part of the automatic expungement process.

On Friday, outgoing Illinois governor Bruce Rauner released his final batch of executive clemency decisions. Included in the group were 31 pardons, four commutations of sentence, and 268 denials. The pardons come with the authorization to expunge the cases from the criminal records of the receipients.

With the 303 decisions, Rauner cleared out all of the remaining pending petitions from the docket. So, incoming governor J.B. Pritzker will start from a fresh slate.

Congratulations to all those that have received their well-earned clemency!

Today, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's Office announced the release of 88 executive clemency decisions in advance of the Christmas weekend. Of the 88 decisions, 10 were granted and 78 denied. Some of the offenses that received pardons include retail theft, burglary, and drug possession.

Two of my clients were among the ten receiving pardons. Congratulations to the other eight receiving clemency as well! For those still pending or denied, your case is likely eligible for sealing which is a still a great option for most. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Today, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner released 102 decisions on executive clemency petitions prior to the Thanksgiving Day vacation. Of the 102, five were granted pardons and 97 petitions were denied. The offenses that were pardoned included burglary, theft, and drug charges. Those granted pardons will now be eligible to have their cases expunged.

Congratulations to those receiving their much-earned pardons! For those denied, keep in mind that recent changes to Illinois law may now allow for your cases to be sealed instead.

In advance of the Labor Day weekend, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner today released a batch of 94 executive clemency decisions, granting seven and denying 87. According to the Prisoner Review Board, the convictions that were granted pardons were for drugs, burglary, forgery, domestic battery and retail theft.

Congrats to those receiving clemency! For those denied or still pending, take note that your case(s) may be eligible for sealing under the new law in Illinois.

Governor Rauner signed a bill today that expands the number of cases eligible for sealing in Illinois. Previously, most misdemeanors and only a select few felonies were eligible for sealing. If you were convicted of a low-level felony that wasn't specifically eligible, then you likely could petition the Prisoner Review Board to gain sealing eligibility. For anyone not eligible for this relief, the only option was to seek clemency from the Governor.

But now with the change in the law, most felony convictions become eligible for sealing without the need for special approval. The new law takes effect immediately. If you have a case the was previously only eligible for a pardon, contact my office to see if the new law applies to you.

In advance of the Memorial Day weekend, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's Office announced today that he has released his 17th batch of executive clemency decisions. In this group, five petitions were granted and 197 were denied. The offenses that were pardoned include attempted burglary, theft, and drug cases.

One of my clients was among the five that received a pardon. We will now be eligible to expunge that client's criminal record in Court. Congratulations to the other four that received clemency as well! To the rest that were denied or are still pending, good luck and keep hope alive because your time may still come!

Yesterday, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill into law which will eliminate the requirement that a person have no convictions on his record in order to expunge a case. Under the old law, a conviction for even the smallest infraction (for example, a fine on a ticket for underage drinking) would mean that a person could not expunge anything else from his criminal record, even if those charges were dropped.

Although that person could have sealed the dismissed case, there are certain circumstances where an expungement is necessary for furthering someone's goals. Now, the law will determine the eligibility to expunge based solely on the case itself, rather than also on the person.

The new law will also waive the filing fees for many expungement petitions in Cook County during 2017. Petitioners in Cook County will not have to pay filing fees when the case(s) sought to be expunged resulted in acquittal or dismissal. This provision is set to expire at the end of 2017.

According to Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times, former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. recently sent a letter to Chicago Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) criticizing Beale’s proposed ordinance to add regulation for rideshare companies Uber and Lyft. Beale’s proposed ordinance would, among other things, mandate drivers for Uber and Lyft to submit to fingerprint background checks.
 
Holder posits that the fingerprint-based background check can have a discriminatory impact on communities of color. He notes that the FBI records from which the fingerprint checks are drawn are often incomplete and do not always show the results of the arrest. Because people of color are statistically more likely to pick up an arrest, their communities would be disproportionately impacted, even when (as is often the case) those arrests do not result in a conviction.
 
I support Holder’s criticisms. In my work, people often come to me with their FBI records looking for an expungement or sealing. It is actually relatively rare for the records to comprehensively contain all the information about what happened in a case. They can be a good starting point for me to figure out what is on a person’s record, but they are mostly worthless for determining eligibility to expunge or seal because they so often don’t list the outcomes of the cases.
 
The ironic part of this is that Uber and Lyft already perform background checks on potential drivers. Many clients have come to me needing to expunge or seal their record specifically because they didn’t pass the background check for these companies. The difference though is that those background checks are designed for employment purposes and therefore typically obtain the disposition information.