If you commit a crime, get caught, do your time, pay your debt to society, rehabilitate your life, and give back to the community, how long should you have to live with that criminal record? For many ex-offenders, the answer is for the rest of their lives. And that record creates all sorts of roadblocks, from gainful employment to obtaining child custody to the ability to receive a student loan.
But there is a process by which certain ex-offenders can clean up their criminal records. It’s called expungement.
Deborah Thomas is a longtime Circuit Court judge in Wayne County, and she’ll be moderating a public forum on expungement tomorrow at noon at the Capital Area District Library in downtown Lansing. Judge Thomas explains how the process works in Michigan.