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126 Pardon Decisions by Rauner for Labor Day Weekend

9/5/2016

16 Comments

 
Illinois governor Bruce Rauner released his eleventh batch of clemency decisions ahead of Labor Day weekend. Included were eight clemency petitions granted and 118 denied. All eight clemency actions came in the form of a pardon with authorization to expunge the criminal record. The pardoned convictions included burglary, domestic battery, deceptive practice, criminal damage to property, attempted armed robbery, and aggravated battery.

According to the Governor's Office, there are fewer than 400 petitions remaining from the backlog that had built up under prior administrations.

As always, a warm congratulations goes out to all those receiving their pardons!
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Illinois Expands Expungement Eligibility

8/23/2016

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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.
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Governor Rauner Releases 10th Batch of Clemency Decisions

7/1/2016

18 Comments

 
This afternoon, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner released his tenth batch of executive clemency decisions ahead of the 4th of July weekend. For this batch, Rauner decided on 157 petitions, granting seven and denying 150. Of the seven granted, six came in the form of pardon with authorization to expunge, while the other was a commutation of sentence. According to the governor's office, roughly 500 petitions remain in the backlog from previous administrations.

Congratulations to those receiving clemency, and happy Independence Day to all!
18 Comments

Holder Rightly Rips Rideshare Regulation

6/5/2016

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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.
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Vicious Campaign Mailer Dredges up Candidate’s Criminal Past

3/14/2016

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Tuesday is primary election day in Illinois, and here in Chicago one candidate is dealing with the same struggle many of my clients face—trying to obtain or keep a job despite the stigma of a criminal record. In a hotly contested race for the 5th District Illinois Assembly Seat, voters received campaign mailers featuring an old mugshot photo of incumbent Rep. Ken Dunkin. The date stamp indicates the photo is nearly 20 years old. In addition to the mugshot, the Sun-Times reported that the mailer listed information about the alleged crimes that may be incomplete and inaccurate.

Dunkin’s opponent, Juliana Stratton, insists her campaign had no involvement with sending the mailer. Nonetheless, she has failed to denounce the scare-mongering tactic. She told the Sun-Times that while she’s “an advocate for a second chance” she believes candidates for public office should be held to “a higher standard.”

While there may be some validity to her point, a mailer that paints a candidate in broad strokes as a criminal thug clearly seeks to provoke a knee-jerk disgusted reaction from voters. This type of labelling of individuals as criminals or felons without any explanation or context for their mistakes is what we at the Bryant Chavez Law Office fight against every day. For a politician like Dunkin, it’s one issue among many that citizens will use to decide whether to vote for him. For ordinary people applying for jobs, it often means outright and immediate rejection. Dunkin is lucky he has a public platform for explaining himself. Regular people with criminal records do not, which is why it’s so important that we have opportunities for reformed individuals to expunge or seal their old cases.

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254 Clemency Decisions by Rauner Ahead of Christmas

12/23/2015

14 Comments

 
In advance of Christmas, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner released his sixth batch of executive clemency decisions today. Of the 254 clemency petitions acted on, seven were granted. All seven clemency actions came in the form of pardons with the authorization to expunge the cases from their criminal record. The linked article includes the list of the seven that received the pardons. According to Governor Rauner's office, about 1,000 clemency petitions remain in the backlog.

Congratulations to those receiving their pardons! I'm sure your good tidings will make for a great holiday season. For those denied or pending, have a Merry Christmas and keep hope alive because your time may still come.
14 Comments

Bill to Decriminalize Cannabis in Illinois Would Lead to Fewer Criminal Records

6/1/2015

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The Illinois legislature recently passed a bill that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis. If Governor Rauner signs the bill, the new law would make the possession of less than 15 grams of cannabis a civil violation, punishable by a fine no more than $125. Currently, possession of small amounts of cannabis is subject to arrest for criminal misdemeanor charges which can result in hundreds or thousands of dollars in fines and costs, and potentially even jail time.

This step toward decriminalization is not new in Illinois. Many local municipalities, including Chicago, already have directives in place for their police departments to issue tickets for small cannabis possession, rather than arresting the offender. However, those ordinance violations, despite intending to “decriminalize,” still do in fact create criminal records for the defendants. Not only are the ordinance violations visible to the public just like any other criminal charge, but a conviction for it can undermine a person’s eligibility to expunge another case, even if that other case would otherwise be eligible to expunge.

Where this bill is truly different though is that it proposes to also change the Criminal Identification Act, which establishes the laws for expunging and sealing criminal records in Illinois. If it becomes law, the bill would make courts and police agencies expunge the tickets from their records automatically every six months. This is a major shift in treatment for these types of cases. No other adult records in Illinois (criminal cases or ordinance violations) automatically expunge. Even if you are arrested by mistake and released right away, you must still petition the court to expunge the case from the police records.

By automatically expunging the records, the Illinois legislature is essentially saying that they are not concerned with repeated cannabis violators. In fact, the idea may be to account for them as a tax on cannabis use over its prohibition. Regardless, this bill would certainly lead to fewer criminal records for people doing something that is quickly trending toward acceptable in Illinois and the United States.

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Governor Quinn Acts on 604 Clemency Petitions on Christmas Eve

12/24/2014

23 Comments

 
In one of his final batches of executive clemency decisions before leaving office, Governor Quinn granted 179 petitions and denied 425 this Christmas Eve.  That brings Quinn's total number of clemency decisions to 3,962 with 1,418 of them granted.

A separate Christmas Eve article in the Chicago Tribune examined the state of clemency petitions in Illinois, while detailing a couple of petitioners seeking pardons based on their claims of innocence.  Although Quinn has a good track record of granting pardons for petitioners showing rehabilitation, he has been far more hesitant to grant pardons declaring the innocence of those wrongfully convicted.  The article is well worth the read, and not just because I am quoted in it (though that never hurts).

Congratulations to all of you receiving clemency on this holiday!  Now that you can move on with your rights restored and your convictions expunged, I am sure that this will always be remembered as a very merry Christmas.
23 Comments

Governor Quinn Signs Bill to Allow Sealing of Misdemeanor Violent Crimes

8/26/2014

4 Comments

 
As we pointed out in June, the Illinois legislature passed a bill that changed the Criminal Identification Act to make most misdemeanor violent crimes eligible for sealing.  Last week, Governor Quinn signed the bill, as was expected, officially making it law.  The new law will take effect on January 1, 2015.

Prior to this change, anybody convicted of a violent crime (misdemeanor or felony) could not expunge or seal that case.  The only option was executive clemency.  Now that another avenue has opened for those sentenced to misdemeanor level violent offenses, it will help many to pass the background checks that had been standing in the way of them moving on with their lives.
4 Comments

Illinois Legislature Passes Bill to Allow Sealing of Most Misdemeanor Violent Crimes

6/2/2014

15 Comments

 
Recently, the Illinois Senate passed a bill which would expand the universe of cases eligible for sealing.  The Illinois House previously passed it in March.  Assuming that Governor Quinn signs the bill, it will allow those convicted of most misdemeanor violent crimes to seal those cases.  Previously, any violent crime conviction, misdemeanor or felony, was not eligible to seal or expunge.  The only option to remove these types of offenses from a criminal record was executive clemency.  Under this new bill, misdemeanor violent offenses (except for a few listed exceptions, such as domestic battery) will be eligible to be sealed by the court directly.
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