Expungement-101, Starting a New Chapter, is a program designed by the Community Resource and Development Office to assist individuals with non-violent criminal records understand the process of expungement, provide legal and financial support in paying fees associated with sealing those records and offer workshops to enhance stable employment and provide other entrepreneurial opportunities for success. 

It is estimated that over 85% of the 1.65 million Kentuckians with a criminal record are eligible for expungement of their Class D or misdemeanor offences. Expungement protects your privacy and can allow participants the opportunity to take advantage of job, school, housing, voting rights, and other opportunities once closed because of an old, minor arrest/conviction being part of an individual’s public record. 

This program featured a (60) minute expungement clinic led by an attorney from the Department of Public Advocacy along with seven attorneys, two paralegals from the Kentucky Innocence Project, and a representative from the Kentucky Department of Corrections.  This partnership was important because participants not only learned about the expungement process, but the state statutes and that had to be followed for their charges to be cleared. 

 Fifty-two participants from eight Kentucky counties were in attendance on September 12^th, and after the sixty-minute presentation and question and answer session, they had a one-on-one meeting with an attorney to determine eligibility and those that qualified were processed for the next step in the expungement process. While participants waited for their expungement request to be processed, they were encouraged to select two or more workshops to attend from the following list: Basic Workplace Employability Skills, Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Introductory Business Communication, Goal Setting and Attitude, Leadership and Ethics, Renting vs. Buying a Home, and Basic Personal Finances. Ten applicants are expected to complete at least two workshops. 

(25) of the (52) participants were eligible for expungements and three (3) were eligible for a full dismissal of charges including a woman who had a truancy charge that prevented her from being gainfully employed because the state of Kentucky considers truancy charges a crime against children. Her daughter had extreme anxiety issues as a child and missed several days from school or was tardy each month but has now graduated from college with a degree in nursing. 

The expungement process usually take three to six months to complete in Kentucky.

This project was funded by a grant from the Kentucky Bar Foundation which allowed all expungement fees to be paid for eligible participants.