To: The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Donald Trump
Pass the REDEEM Act 2017
We ask those who have received criminal convictions to focus on rehabilitation. Yet we deny them many of the opportunities for rehabilitation by allowing the impact of a conviction to last long after a sentence is served. Housing options are dramatically limited, and employment searches become a nearly endless succession of rejections - despite both research and common sense reporting that a human in this world needs both a place to live and funds to provide for themselves and their dependents.
We are all criminals. Only some have been caught and tagged with this enduring stigma. We must allow those who have served their sentences and proven their rehabilitation to re-enter society without that stigma. Just as over 22 states have already done, our federal government must give federal district court judges the jurisdiction to consider and grant a petition for expungement. I ask the legislature to take up the current iteration of the REDEEM Act and pass it into law, to create a path for eligible persons to seek redress in this critical and underserved arena. Please pass the REDEEM Act.
We are all criminals. Only some have been caught and tagged with this enduring stigma. We must allow those who have served their sentences and proven their rehabilitation to re-enter society without that stigma. Just as over 22 states have already done, our federal government must give federal district court judges the jurisdiction to consider and grant a petition for expungement. I ask the legislature to take up the current iteration of the REDEEM Act and pass it into law, to create a path for eligible persons to seek redress in this critical and underserved arena. Please pass the REDEEM Act.
Why is this important?
This is at least the third time this bill has been introduced in Congress since 2014. Other bills with similar intent have likewise been introduced, but all have died a slow death languishing in one committee or another.
I have friends, family, and acquaintances who have been impacted by criminal convictions. Witnessing their experience has convinced me of the ineffectiveness of our current system, that punishes someone for a misdeed long after they have served their sentence. The current system that does not allow for expungement of the majority of federal felony convictions does not contribute to rehabilitation and the proper function of our society; and does contribute to recidivism and the downfall of the very societal norms that criminal sentences are intended to reinforce.
This must be changed and we must be the ones to change it.
I have friends, family, and acquaintances who have been impacted by criminal convictions. Witnessing their experience has convinced me of the ineffectiveness of our current system, that punishes someone for a misdeed long after they have served their sentence. The current system that does not allow for expungement of the majority of federal felony convictions does not contribute to rehabilitation and the proper function of our society; and does contribute to recidivism and the downfall of the very societal norms that criminal sentences are intended to reinforce.
This must be changed and we must be the ones to change it.