Criminal justice reforms signed three years ago in the U.S. state of Michigan took effect last week, with nearly 850,000 residents seeing at least one conviction automatically set aside.

The bipartisan "Clean Slate" legislation, as advocates call it, triggered an automatic expungement process starting last Tuesday, wiping clean a range of convictions from people's records following a defined waiting period.

Michigan has about 2.8 million people with criminal records. Many of those convictions are low-level, nonviolent offenses, while others were committed as juveniles. Before the new expungement laws, those offenses stuck to records and acted as barriers to housing and employment opportunities.

"We're celebrating a historic step forward as Michigan becomes just the third state to implement automatic expungement," said John Cooper, executive director of Safe & Just Michigan. "This reform will deliver immediate and automatic impact for more than a million people, all of whom are likely to see their access to housing and jobs improve overnight."

On April 11 alone, when the automatic expungement program began, 252,417 Michiganders became conviction-free as their criminal records were sealed.

Other states that offer relief for criminal records include Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Utah, Florida, Georgia, Montana, and Maine.

"We are encouraged and hopeful that the State of Michigan will continue to advance meaningful second chances in the future," said Antoniese "Tony" Gant, director of policy and program operations for the Lansing-based Nation Outside. "We know all too well how difficult, expensive, and embarrassing the expungement petition process (used to) be."

The new program's algorithm automatically searches the state's criminal record database every day to find convictions newly eligible for expungement.

Offenses not eligible for expungement include arson, child abuse, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, first-degree murder, felonious assault, manslaughter, stalking, and others.

For misdemeanors punishable by less than 93 days in jail, courts will seal those records instead of the state police.

"This groundbreaking, nation-leading reform will be transformational for thousands of our neighbors in West Michigan, and for our member businesses who have thousands of job openings to fill," said Josh Lunger, vice president of government affairs with the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce.

"Building sustainable talent pipelines and creating economic opportunity for more people is a critical piece of supporting a thriving and prosperous West Michigan for all."

Research has shown favorable outcomes for employment and income for people whose records have been expunged, along with a lower re-offense rate than compared to the general public.

Safe & Just estimates that going forward, the program will expunge between 100,000 to 200,000 low-level, nonviolent criminal records annually.

Convictions will be eligible for permanent sealing after seven years for up to four misdemeanors; and after either 10 years for up to two nonviolent felonies or the completion of a prison term.

Written by Laina G. Stebbins and republished under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license from Michigan Advance