Spring ‘22: Civil Rights Law
Record Sealing, Expungements and CQEs BY MEAGAN VAN BROCKLIN AND MEGAN O’DELL
Pathways Toward Second Chances Moving on from a criminal conviction, even after all criminal sanctions are complete, can be challenging. The Legal Aid Society of Columbus, or LASC for short, regularly assists clients seeking to put their pasts behind them. Clients have a variety of reasons for wanting to remove criminal histories from their backgrounds. Justiceinvolved individuals are restricted from employment,
housing and some volunteer opportunities. Even people who have overcome difficult circumstances and can demonstrate rehabilitation by judicial standards still have difficulty obtaining housing and employment.i “Once you get declined once or twice from a job, you start to doubt that you’re ever going to be able to be accepted back into the community,” says Betsy Davis, who worked with LASC to seal her record last year. She wanted to seal her record so she could return to school. “It means a better future. Doors are opening for me.”
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