New Program Helps One-Time Offenders Erase Record So They
Can Take Advantage Of The Local Job Boom
By KARLA WALL
As anyone working in local refineries and chemical plants knows all too well, you don’t just apply and interview for a position. Getting a job in industry in the post 9/11 era involves not just pointed questions from an HR supervisor, but a thorough background check. And you won’t be donning a set of those locally ubiquitous blue Nomex coveralls anytime soon if you have a blemish on your record.
Any blemish — an arrest for drunk and disorderly conduct during your wild and crazy college days, even if those days are 10 or 20 years behind you; a DWI during those glory days. No matter how small the offense, if you’ve been arrested and booked, it shows up on your record. And your job options dwindle to nearly nothing.
And with the drastic increase in the need for workers coming over the next couple of years, that can hamper both those who want to work but can’t due to a past mistake, and employers who are desperate for qualified workers.
The SWLA Law Center and the VISA Coalition have partnered for a pilot program, funded by the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, that can help on both counts.
Called the Expungement Program, the new initiative helps one-time offenders get the record of that past mistake removed from public record so they can pass a background check and obtain a job.
No Violent, Repeat Offenders
SWLA Law Center executive director Mark Judson emphasizes the term “one-time offender.”
“This isn’t for criminal offenders, or those who are frequent offenders,” he says. “It’s for that good person who had a bad night, or made one error in judgment, and law enforcement got involved,” he says.
Nor does the program seek to help those who have trouble helping themselves. There are restrictions on who can take advantage of the program.
Applicants must be able to provide a license or ID, a Social Security card, and two pay stubs or current tax return. Applicants must also meet income criteria, adjusted for family size.
The program isn’t available to those with pending charges anywhere in the U.S., those convicted of domestic abuse, those convicted of second-offense DWI or higher, or those convicted of sex crimes or drug possession with intent to distribute.
“Further, a person wanting to take advantage of the program must have been convicted under Section 893 or 894,” says Judson. “Being convicted under those two sections — 893 is for felony convictions, and 894 is for misdemeanors — automatically entitles the offender to expungement; those sections exist to identify people who can be helped later. The court has to actually say ‘under section 893’ or ‘under section 894’ for someone to be eligible for expungement under this program or any other.”
No one under probation or parole can take advantage of the initiative, either, says local attorney Derrick Kee with the VISA Coalition.
“There has to be an adequate time lapse,” he says. “Usually 15-20 years. A person has to be done with parole or probation.”
And it’s important to note, Judson says, that expungement doesn’t mean erasing the record; it merely removes it from public record. It can still be accessed by law enforcement and various professional licensing agencies, such as the State Board of Medical Examiners.
But it does give one-time offenders a chance to get a job, or buy a home or car.
A Community Investment
Kee says that the program is about workforce development and community growth.
“It’s about workforce development,” says Kee. “It’s about helping not just the unemployed but the grossly underemployed. It’s a chance for individuals to take advantage of the many jobs that are becoming available in this area. This should be viewed as an investment. It’s a community investment, and a community concern.”
The Calcasieu Parish pilot program was started in April, and Judson says they received 180 applications in that first month. And funding for only 15 expungements.
“Hopefully, our numbers in this pilot program will demonstrate the need for this type of program, and we’ll find permanent funding,” says Judson.
For now, the SWLA Law Center and the VISA Coalition are working to raise awareness of the program, and lay the foundation for future funding in the government, business and private sectors.
The group now consists of seven lawyers and a full-time intern.
To find out more about the program, or to fill out an application, call the SWLA Law Center at 436-3308, or email the VISA Coalition at visacoalition14@gmail.com.
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