The Expungement Myth
![handle is hein.journals/albany75 and id is 1239 raw text is: THE EXPUNGEMENT MYTH
Amy Shlosberg*
Evan Mandery**
Valerie West***
I. INTRODUCTION
This article stems from a study of the post-release behavior of
individuals following exoneration.1 In the course of conducting
research on post-release behavior, the most comprehensive such
study to date, an interesting and troubling finding emerged:
expungement does not always follow exoneration.2 Expungement is
the [p]rocess by which [a] record of criminal conviction is destroyed
or sealed from the state or federal repository.3 In instances where
a former defendant is exonerated, expungement is sometimes part
of the relief granted.4 In most cases, however, it must be secured in
a separate civil action.5 Though every member of our sample has
been deemed not guilty by an official body, approximately forty-two
percent of these exonerees still had evidence of the wrongful
conviction on their record.6 This disturbing statistic has significant
* Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Center of the City of New York. B.A., Rutgers University,
2003, M.A. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2006.
** Associate Professor and Chairperson, Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College
of Criminal Justice.
*** Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal
Justice.
1 The term exoneration was used to describe an official act declaring a defendant not
guilty of a crime for which he or she had previously been convicted. Samuel R. Gross et al.,
Exonerations in the United States, 1989 through 2003, 95 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 523, 524
(2005).
2 See infra Part II.
3 BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 582 (6th ed. 1990).
4 For example, New York permits the sealing of cases where charges were dismissed,
vacated, set aside, not filed, or otherwise terminated. N.Y. CRIM. PROC. LAW § 160.50
(McKinney 2011).
5 21A AM. JUR. 2D Criminal Law § 1219 (2012).
6 Data for this study is on file with the author. We do not address whether the originating
arrest is expunged with the conviction. States vary in the public reporting of arrest
information. For example, New York and Florida both provide arrest data, however Illinois
does not and Texas only does for most, but not all counties (Harris and El Paso Counties do
not provide arrest information). See Criminal History Record Search, NEW YORK STATE
1229](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/albany75&div=51&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Expungement Myth
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