BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — 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.
Bernadette Gargano, vice dean of experiential learning at UB's Law School, said it's a fair way to give people who have paid their debt to society a chance at being good citizens.
"If they've done their time, done everything they're supposed to and there's been a long enough time where we can see a history that nothing else bad has happened during this time, this gives people a second chance at life," she said.
Dale Lockwood, 44, knows what a gift it is to have a second chance.
When he was 18 he got into a lot of trouble with the law and ended up going away to prison. But during that time, he went back to school and earned a degree to be a paralegal.
Last year, John Elmore hired him to work at his firm.
He said it wasn't easy getting a job.
"Filling out an application, I will have all of the qualifications, but they would always ask to do that criminal background check. And sometimes when they do that criminal background check, I wouldn't get the job," Lockwood said.
“It makes you feel kind of down...Like you're at the bottom of the ladder in society," Lockwood said.
Getting hired at Elmore's firm has changed his life.
“I love for people to come in here and people can see how a young man who once made mistakes is now being entrusted and put into a position to be a face of a law office," Lockwood said.
“I got this opportunity before the Clean Slate was passed...But hopefully, this Clean Slate can open up the door for other individuals to get the opportunity I was blessed with," Lockwood said.
Gargano is helping organize a legal clinic on Clean Slate through the UB Law School and the City of Buffalo, as well as Community Service Society, Legal Aid, Center for Community Alternatives, Alliance of Families for Justice, and other advocacy organizations.
It will be held Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information and to register, go to cleanslateny.org.
