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Expungement team is helping former inmates wipe their records clean
The work is just beginning. Shayla McElroy from Project Clean Slate estimates 168,000 Detroiters with misdemeanors and certain felonies are eligible.
(FOX 2) - By the end of the day Tuesday, some 400,000 Michigan residents will be conviction free.
The Michigan State Police is now streamlining the state's expungement process by searching for and setting aside certain convictions that qualify under the current law. The new automated process will search the state's database for any eligible convictions that can be removed.
According to the state, over a million people could benefit.
There are a number of ways to qualify for an automatic expungement, starting with residents who have up to four misdemeanors that are punishable by 93 days in jail or more after seven years has passed since the sentenced.
For felonies, up to two convictions may be automatically expunged after 10 years since the sentence or when the term of imprisonment ends - which ever comes later.
To check if someone qualifies for automatic expungement, people can use the IChat webpage to see their public record. It costs $10 to use.
MORE: Expungement in Michigan: How to clear your criminal record
For those that don't qualify for the automatic expungement process, there are still other avenues for getting a record cleared. Those individuals should be on the lookout for more expungement fairs hosted by the attorney general's office.
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Who qualifies for automatic crime expungement in Michigan?
Hundreds of thousands of Michiganders will soon have criminal convictions expunged from their records automatically, thanks to the Clean Slate law. Previously, people with qualifying convictions would need to apply and go through an expungement process.
What is Clean Slate?
The new automatic expungement process is the result of work between state police and the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget after the governor signed the Clean Slate package into law in 2020.
The group of bills targeted helping certain people getting convictions set aside.
It also gave state police the means to scan the criminal data base daily for eligible expungement.
The process of police notifying the courts begins April 11.
Criteria for automatic expungement
There are three offense types that are eligible for expungement, as well as the number one can have removed and how long they'll have to wait before it can be automatically removed:
- Misdemeanors punishable by less than 92 days imprisonment, no limit. There's a seven-year waiting period
- Misdemeanors punishable by 93 days or more imprisonment, not more than four. There's a seven-year waiting period
- Felonies, not more than two. There's a 10-year waiting period
The waiting period for misdemeanors refers to the amount of time that has passed since the date of the imposition of a sentence.
Convictions that aren't eligible for automatic expungement
There's several crimes that won't be cleared through the automatic process:
- An assaultive crime
- A serious misdemeanor
- A crime of dishonesty
- Any offense punishible by more than 10 years imprisonment
- Violation of state laws that include either a minor, vulnerable adult, injury or serious impairment, or death
- Human trafficking
- Certain traffic offenses such as if they were intoxicated or caused injury or death