Former Bay Area inmates embrace second chance, expunge criminal records under new state law
SAN FRANCISCO – Hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents with a criminal past are getting a chance to build a better future by expunging their criminal records.
The new program is aimed at helping them re-enter the housing and job markets with a clean slate. Senate Bill 731, passed last fall, makes California the first state in the nation to allow people to permanently expunge old convictions on their criminal records.
Former Bay Area inmate Valente Espino has been arrested multiple times. On Tuesday, he celebrated having a new chance at life after years of living with a criminal record. He was able to start the process of getting his records expunged under the historic new state law.
"I've always been judged by my cover, how I look," Espino said. "And when I go to apply for jobs, that question is, 'Have you ever been arrested? Do you have a felony?' When I check 'yes,' those interviews or that application is either getting lost or thrown away, or they think I'm not capable."
He is just one of the hundreds of thousands of former inmates in the Bay Area who now have the opportunity to clear their record, including an estimated 25,000 in San Francisco alone. Under SB 731, people who have been released from prison, finished parole, and are crime-free for four years are eligible to petition their local court to have their record expunged.
"It's really a burden. It starts to play with your mental health, and you think that you can't get a job, you can't support your family, you can't get the opportunities that everybody has when I am very capable of doing everything that everybody else can," Espino added.
Several elected officials and advocates gathered on Tuesday morning on the steps of the Hall of Justice to urge other residents to start the process.
"This is such a great turnout to bring attention [to the law]. To let people know there's help out there," said attorney in the SF Public Defender's office Vilaska Nguyen. "There is hope for their future... to clear their records and be reunited with their families. They can move forward with their careers, but also to let other city leaders know that this is a real need in our community."
The new law does not apply to violent felonies like murder and sex crimes. Only lower-level crimes like drug trafficking, drug possession, burglary, and larceny qualify.
"Everyone can agree that a second chance means a real solution in addressing the root causes of public safety," Nguyen added.
The San Francisco Public Defender's Office also held a clinic to help people with the process after the news conference. Misdemeanor and non-serious felony convictions will automatically be expunged under the law. People with serious felonies are able to petition a judge to expunge those convictions.
"We cannot continue to believe that the path forward and the way to protect public safety is to continue to criminalize people for effectively making change," said Supervisor Shamann Walton. "When you continue to create barriers for someone coming home, you are effectively setting them up for failure and pushing them right back into poverty."
Valente expressed his gratitude for the second chance and urged for support
"Just give us some support. We all need a network of support to help us accomplish things. We can't do it on our own," he said.
San Francisco residents wanting to learn more about their eligibility for expunging records under SB 731 can contact the San Francisco Public Defender's Clean Slate Unit online or (415) 553-9337.