Expungements in Michigan
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently signed into law an expansion of the state expungement statute making more people eligible for expungement as well as making some expungements automatic. An expungement is a legal process where a court will remove one or more criminal convictions from your permanent record. You are not able to expunge every type of criminal conviction, so it is important to understand the new law as it applies to you. A 2019 University of Michigan study found that only 6.5% of people who are eligible for an expungement get their records cleared within five years. So, 93.5% of people who have a criminal record and are eligible for an expungement to remove the criminal conviction don’t get it done within the first five years they are eligible to do so. These convictions can hurt your ability to find good employment, can limit where you are able to live, and can otherwise be a black mark on you that limits your opportunities. These startling statistics symbolized the need for an expansive change in the expungement process leading to new Michigan expungement laws.