An Oregon law went into effect this year that helps remove barriers for some Oregonians who want to expunge their criminal records. During a background check, criminal charges will show up on a person’s record which can affect things like housing and employment. The Clean Slate Clackamas Project helps Oregonians with the expungement process. We hear more from Amanda Wall, community relations manager for the Clackamas Workforce Partnership and program manager for the Clean Slate Clackamas Project. Jayme is working on getting her records expunged with the project. They join us with details on how the project is going and how it affects Oregonians.
Note: We are only using Jayme’s first name to protect her privacy.
The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:
Dave Miller: We turn now from the president’s pardons of federal convictions for cannabis possession to state level expungements for various crimes. Last year, the Oregon legislature made it easier for people who have committed certain crimes to be able to clear their records. Now a program in Clackamas County is helping people navigate this new system. Amanda Wall manages the Clean Slate Clackamas Project. It’s part of the county’s Workforce Partnership program. She joins us now, along with one of the people who is getting help through this program. Jayme is in the process of getting her record expunged. Welcome to both of you.
Guests: Hi. Hi, thank you. Thank you for having us.
Miller: Amanda Wall, first. The work you’re doing here is a result of this new state law that took effect at the beginning of this year. What changed under this new law?
Amanda Wall: Senate Bill 397 removed the financial barrier that each count eligible for expungement originally cost $281. That fee has been removed, making it more accessible for people to have their records expunged.
Miller: That fee. How many individual counts might somebody have on their record?
Wall: On average, we see people with 10 to 15, as many as 30, down to four. So it runs the gamut of affordability. It really was cost prohibitive up until January.
Miller: Because we’re talking about potentially either many hundreds or into the multiple thousands of dollars.
Wall: Correct. Yes, $281 a count, and this includes the dismissed and the convictions. It’s everything on the record. It was cost prohibitive for most participants to be able to have their records expunged.
Miller: Can you give us a sense for who is eligible to have their records expunged and after how many years?
Wall: Absolutely. Senate Bill 397 did change some of the rules as to what is eligible: dismissals are immediate, ‘no complaint’ is 60 days after your last conviction, B and C misdemeanor classes it’s one year after your last conviction, Class A misdemeanors are three years, five years for Class C, all the way up to B Class non-person-to-person felonies are seven years after your most recent conviction. The important distinction here is your most recent conviction. If a person, let’s say, has a charge from 2012 or 2011, you fast forward to current. The seven-year starts over if somebody had gotten in trouble somewhere in between the seven year period, so it’s seven years from the most recent conviction.
Miller: Jayme, where does your expungement stand right now?
Jayme: It has been filed and sent to the courts. Amanda had just let me know, I believe it was Tuesday, that I have two cases and one had been signed off. That one, we’re just waiting for the paperwork to wrap up, and that one will be officially expunged.
Miller: What has your experience been like working with the folks at the Clean Slate Clackamas Project?
Jayme: Oh my gosh, it’s been the biggest blessing. I was actually, I didn’t know about the $281 per charge. I had heard just from other people in my same predicament that it would cost $5,000 to even speak with a lawyer to get your record expunged. When I found out about Clean Slate Clackamas, it was the best blessing for someone in our situation. One, because not only of the cost effectiveness of it, but it’s a daunting task. When you’re not really sure what you need to do and what you need to send and there’s so many moving parts of it, when you have people that can give you the answers and that can guide you in the right place, but also talk you through the whole entire thing, months later, even after you’re waiting. Also, I’ve never had the experience of working with someone that’s come to anything as far as your criminal background where there was no judgment. You could tell that they truly were there to help you and help open doors for your future. On top of just the financial, just the supportiveness is, like I said, it’s a blessing that I never foresaw coming, and it’s changing my life.
Miller: There’s a lot in what you just said. But one of them is that you’d never had an experience where people didn’t focus on the fact of your criminal record or didn’t approach it negatively? What have you experienced in the past?
Jayme: Any time I have tried to reach out or talk to somebody about it, I just felt like there was more judgment than understanding or even trying to be helpful. I’ve had a lot of experiences obviously where my record has … I’ve hit a bunch of walls of things that I’ve wanted to do or not been able to do. It’s difficult, and it gets to the point where you don’t even want to talk about it. You don’t want to reach out because it can be very judgmental. A lot of people, including myself, that have a record, there’s a lot of guilt. Mine was 10 years ago, and it’s still something that weighs on my back constantly. It’s something that, when you’ve worked so hard to get your life back on track and better your life, it’s hard to put yourself back in that place when you’re talking to someone about it and they’re being judgmental or speaking down to you, frankly. I kind of got to the point where I just stopped talking about it, stopped looking at things, and I didn’t really expect to ever be in a position where I would be able to expunge my record until I got a hold of Clean Slate Clackamas.
Miller: When you say, ‘stopped looking at things,’ are you thinking about employment opportunities?
Jayme: Absolutely.
Miller: What are the different aspects of your life that were on hold or felt like they were shut out to you because of your record?
Jayme: Every aspect.
Miller: Every aspect. What do you mean by that?
Jayme: Well, for one, I had just recently gotten divorced when all this happened, and I wouldn’t date. Because, I mean, I used to have nightmares about driving with, say, a new partner or something – but not even a partner, even a colleague – and being pulled over and how I would be treated by the police with them in the car with me … or even, God forbid, my niece or family members. That was something that I used to constantly fear.
Also, like I said, I had just gotten divorced, so housing was a huge issue for me. I’ve owned a house prior. I’ve usually lived in pretty nice homes, and I could not find an apartment to rent to me, regardless of my employment history or my credit score. It was really difficult. My first apartment was a pretty scary place. A lot of places won’t rent to you if your felony isn’t at least five years old. Then if you want to get into somewhere nicer, like I am now, it’s because it’s been 10 years, but it’s a huge obstacle.
Also, as far as finding jobs, my career path before I had a felony was very professional. I was the controller of big Fortune 500 companies, and that was no longer an option to me. It was kind of terrifying that I would look for jobs and I couldn’t even get a job at Target or Goodwill or what have you.
So it’s in every way, even smaller things aside from just your career or living. Take, for example, my bible study group. We do a lot of charity things, and we were going to work at a, I don’t remember the name of it, but it’s for foster children. The facility was closed, and we were going in to clean the whole building for them, sanitize toys, do all of that good stuff. Everyone had to run a background check, and I wasn’t able to even do community work because I had a record. I don’t have drug charges. I don’t have sexual charges or assault charges or anything like that. But even trying to do community service, I wasn’t able to do.
There’s a lot of things that you wouldn’t even imagine how it would affect you. When I went to buy my first car, the salesman told me that there’s a lot of car loan companies that won’t even extend loans to felons, which is crazy to me because it should be based upon if you can afford the vehicle and your credit score.
But yeah, even to me it was a little shocking. Also my niece recently graduated from high school, and she had talked about wanting to go to Canada. I can’t go to Canada. When I say it’s truly every aspect …
Miller: What do you mean when you say you can’t go to Canada?
Jayme: I’m not allowed to because I’m a felon.
Miller: This is news to me. You can’t leave the country, or go to Canada, if you’ve previously been convicted of a crime?
Jayme: Yep. A lot of other countries will take me, thankfully. But I know I can’t go to Canada and Australia for sure, and I know there’s a couple others.
Miller: Amanda Wall, why make this project a part of the Clackamas Workforce Partnership? An agency that’s really focused, if I understand correctly, on employment.
Wall: Workforce is a fancy way of saying people, right? And we are creating systems change. Criminal records are an incredible barrier – as you’re hearing from Jayme right now – on employment, on housing, on education opportunities and overall well being. We saw the need to be able to bring this to Clackamas County and provide the service for not only just Clackamas County but the South Metro region to make it more accessible for people that might be in the Willamette Valley, on the coast…
The goal for us is to look at a whole person. Once we remove the criminal barrier, the criminal record, the felony record, that opens up so many more opportunities. We have so many connections in the Workforce system – with WorkSource Clackamas, with Clackamas Community College and all of our providers – that can really help people see beyond their barrier, get into better jobs, better wages, quality employment and dare to be something beyond just the mistakes that they made. It was very important to us to bring this into our services throughout the region in order to just continue on this pathway of what a quality job looks like for everybody.
Miller: How many people have you been able to help so far through this program?
Wall: We’ve had almost 900 people apply, eligibility screenings through … we have been able to expunge 418 records. The applications started in March of 2022. We’ve seen a significant increase as time has gone on. There’s probably, I would say, another 100 to 150 people in that pool that would be eligible if they did not have outstanding fines hanging over their heads. Fines and fine forgiveness is a very big part of what we’re pushing to try and change system wide. It is mind boggling to me the amount of pressure that is put on a population that has already struggled so intensely to try and make a go of their lives to be saddled with an incredible amount of debt.
Miller: The idea behind that … I mean, there is a policy reason for those fines. We set up these rules or these laws, you broke them in various ways, and now we’re going to hold you financially responsible in one way or another. I mean obviously there’s all different kinds of fines, but that’s the basic idea behind it. What’s your argument for a better way that would still maintain some version of consequences?
Wall: Instead of fines, why not put a program together that helps people better themselves: puts them in financial awareness programs, recovery programs, building up their work resume, education opportunities. Why not put a participant who has done the time, made amends to what they have done … Instead of fining them for what they’ve done, let’s try to find the root source of what the problem is and fix that and look at the whole person.
Miller: You mentioned more than 400 people now have had their records expunged through the work you’re providing. What in general do you hear from them when they get that news?
Wall: Oh, the thank-you notes that I get bring me to tears, to be perfectly honest. It is utter just… shock… so proud, so incredibly proud for what they have gone through, and really just overall shock, to be perfectly honest, that they’ve had a positive experience in the court system. That, after so many years and so many times of people telling them no, that this program and this ability has given them a yes and has told them that their record is no longer a barrier to their lives. Windows and doors are now going to open as far as new job opportunities, promotions, education, housing, all of the things that we’ve talked about.
Miller: Jayme, assuming that those doors and windows that Amanda just described, that they opened for you at some point soon. What are you most excited to do?
Jayme: I am most excited to truly just feel like I get to be representative of the person I am today. That’s the biggest thing, is having the ability to represent myself without having to worry about something that I did 10 years ago. I have worked so hard every day to put my life back together, to be able to stand as the person I am and be represented as I am at the moment. I can’t even, I mean I will be shocked when my record is cleared because, even when it’s something that’s not affecting your day-to-day, it’s still on you. It’s something that’s always attached to you, and you feel it there.
To be able to look for a job and not have to worry that they’re not going to even look at your resume. I’m right now in the middle of a career transition, and I’m waiting for the expungement to go through. I’m in a situation where I am looking to work for the county, and there’s no way I could possibly even apply with a felony on my record. I also have the ability to buy a business. It’s a federal type business; it’s a tax business. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do those things either. For me, instead of living in the parameters that I’ve had to live in as a felon, those will no longer be there. I am allowed to dream again and to hope and to look at my life and realize that the sky is the limit. I’m not beholden to these certain careers or these certain places to live. To travel and be able to truly just live my life again. It’s a freedom that I can’t even imagine. I still don’t really even know how that would really feel. But just to even have that opportunity is life changing.
Miller: Jayme, and Amanda Wall, thanks very much.
Wall: Thank you so much for having us.
Jayme: Thank you.
Miller: Jayme is in the process of getting her record expunged with the help of the Clean Slate Clackamas Project. Amanda Wall is a community relations manager for the Clackamas Workforce Partnership.
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