Record Clearing

Research: Does expungement of a criminal record induce stabilization of housing and employment with concomitant reductions in recidivism? Should oversubscribed legal services providers dedicate their scarce resources to meeting the vast demand for assistance in obtaining an expungement under state law?

A randomized control trial will assign individuals eligible for expungement under state law to different levels of service (self-help materials or attorney representation) from oversubscribed legal services providers. If, as anticipated, expungement outcomes differ based on service level, the study will employ an instrumental variables design to infer the effect of expungement on recidivism, housing stability, and employment.

Working with Kansas Legal Services, the study team plans to enroll complete enrollment in 2022. All participants will receive some type of assistance, either full representation or self-help materials, and will be offered the opportunity to participate in follow-up surveys for two years.

What We’ll Learn: There is no clear evidence of the effect of record-clearing on recidivism. Further, there are no studies based in randomized field operations that show the effectiveness of record-clearing on housing stability outcomes. This study will show those effects.

Research Team:
Jim Greiner, Faculty Director, Access to Justice Lab; Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Renee Danser, Associate Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships, Access to Justice Lab
Marilyn Harp, Kansas Legal Services (ret.)

Research:

What We Hope to Learn:

Research Team:
Access to Justice Lab
Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas
American Gateways
Conflict Analytics Lab
Queens University

Research:

What We Hope to Learn:

Research Team:
Access to Justice Lab
Raphah Institute