In October 2020 Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a bipartisan 'Clean Slate' package that automatically expunges many misdemeanor and felony records after set crime-free periods, without requiring people to file petitions. Misdemeanors are cleared after seven years and eligible felonies after ten. When automatic processing began in April 2023, more than 1.5 million records were cleared, helping people with old convictions access jobs and housing. Michigan followed Pennsylvania and Utah but adopted what advocates called the broadest version to date.
In October 2020 Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a bipartisan 'Clean Slate' package that automatically expunges many misdemeanor and felony records after set crime-free periods, without requiring people to file petitions. Misdemeanors are cleared after seven years and eligible felonies after ten. When automatic processing began in April 2023, more than 1.5 million records were cleared, helping people with old convictions access jobs and housing. Michigan followed Pennsylvania and Utah but adopted what advocates called the broadest version to date.
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Automatic record-clearing reduces lifelong penalties and reflects a fairness-oriented reform of the justice system; mapped to the accountability-pressure driver as the closest available analogue.
