Expunging Criminal Records Offers Clear Benefits—But Few People Take Advantage

Route Fifty: Less than 7 percent of eligible people in Michigan apply to have their criminal records expunged, but those who do reap significant benefits in terms of obtaining housing and employment, according to new research from the University of Michigan.

The study, the first to empirically examine the effects of expungement, lends credence to a growing movement to make that process simpler by automatically sealing criminal records of certain nonviolent offenders.

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