Tomorrow the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office and other legal organizations will help people apply to expunge their criminal records. The service is meant to help people move on with their lives and more easily qualify for employment and housing.
Under California law, people can petition to clear some felonies and misdemeanors from their records. The process is time consuming and can be difficult for people to complete on their own.
One of the attorneys at the clinic, Brian Buckley said the clinic helps streamline the process.
“We can get most of these granted in a much shorter time than by going through the normal process,” Buckley said.
According to the California Policy Lab, 1 in 8 Californians with criminal records are eligible to have their full records cleared.
SLO County’s District Attorney, Dan Dow, said clearing people’s criminal records can help people get back on track.
“So that they can now more easily get a job, get housing, those sorts of things that we think really are critical in order for someone to not reoffend,” Dow said.
At the clinic last March, Dow said more than a third of the cases reviewed qualified for expungement.
The Clean Slate Clinic is open from 10 to 5 at the SLO County Law Library on Monterey Street in San Luis Obispo.
