Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Under the “C” - for Conviction
There are an increasing number of people leaving prisons around this state and nation who have paid, as we call it, their “debt to society” and are ready to re-integrate into the outside world. We’d be better off with their energy and intentions directed toward helping to build better communities, rather than marginalizing them, excluding them, making them resent a world that refuses to re-admit them on fair terms.
But lots of these previously-incarcerated people find themselves unable to get a job, to rent a home, or otherwise to move forward in the ways most of us take for granted, because so many application forms for life’s basic necessities inquire into one’s history of criminal convictions. A person who’s made a mistake but paid for it and is ready to move on, should not be obliged to bear that stigma for the rest of his or her life - not only is it a heartlessly disproportionate punishment, but it has negative downstream consequences for everybody. People who can’t get jobs or places to live are forced into situations that render them much more at risk of reoffending. It is inimical to the very concept of rehabilitation.
That’s why some innovative legal services programs around California have projects designed to help the previously-incarcerated remove the records of their convictions. This process is technically known as “dismissal of conviction,” but is colloquially referred-to as “expungement.” These so-called “Clean Slate Clinics” perform a critical and valuable service for those who would otherwise spend a lifetime admitting to a conviction that should no longer be an impediment to their ability to participate fully in their world. It can change lives, and communities, for the better.
There’s been interest in disseminating these clinics further around the state, so that more local service providers can help more people to expunge their records. The clinics are typically conducted in a manner that encourages the people seeking help to do most of the work themselves, with instructions from professionals in a group setting. I think it would be helpful, in addition, to create educational materials such as an instructional video, to be shown wherever these clinics might be held, explaining the basic rules and offering a roadmap to the forms and procedures involved.
But educational videos can be very boring, and this would dilute the efficacy of such a strategy. I think the solution would be to produce videos that capture the attention of a lay audience, ones with, for example, an engaging, self-effacing, charming and funny instructor.
My suggestion: Dismiss your Conviction with ExpungeBob Squarepants. This is probably why nobody wants me to make instructional videos.
