Steve Cohen

09/21/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/21/2022 13:03

Congressman Cohen Votes to Advance Fresh Start Act

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today voted to advance H.R. 5651, the Fresh Start Act, a bill that creates a grant program for states with existing eligible criminal record sealing or expungement laws to support implementation of automatic sealing or expungement processes, to the House floor. The measure that advanced today is different from the Fresh Start Act Congressman Cohen has advocated for years and reintroduced in February 2022.

The Committee vote advancing the measure was 22 to 13.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler thanked Congressman Cohen for his longtime advocacy of expungement as criminal justice reform and pledged to work with him on the issue.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

"Even those who commit non-violent offenses can face a life sentence. That's because the stigma of a conviction can be permanent, following you around for the rest of your life. Employment, housing, education -the very things necessary to get a 'fresh start' -can all be denied on the basis of a conviction in your past. The collateral consequences of conviction in our criminal justice system are far reaching and fall disproportionately on people of color.

"Allowing people who have made a mistake, and have paid their debt to society, to wipe the slate clean is essential if we want a more just criminal legal system."

See Congressman Cohen's remarks at the markup here.

H.R. 6667, The Fresh Start Act that Congressman Cohen introduced in February, allows offenders to apply for expungement to the federal court where they were sentenced and allows the United States Attorney for that district to submit recommendations to the court. If an applicant is denied expungement, he or she may reapply once every two years. It also creates a process to automatically expunge the records of those who committed more minor crimes and fulfilled the terms of their sentence seven or more years ago.

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