Kelly Doherty
CONECT Leaders Asti Jackson & Lonnie Spaulding questioning Gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont about the Clean Slate proposal
CONECT’s Criminal Justice Reform Team is leading a legislative campaign to create a new system of automatic expungement of criminal records in Connecticut. Recently Hugh Bailey wrote a column in the CT Post & New Haven Register about the campaign and the New York Times ran an Opinion piece on Clean Slate nationally.
The Connecticut “Clean Slate” plan would build off of Connecticut’s existing Board of Pardons and Paroles system, making expungements of criminal records 3 years after a misdemeanor and 5 years after a non-violent felony automatic.
Speaking at CONECT’s recent press conference was Rev Anthony Bennett and Rick DelValle, a former drug addict who now operates five recovery houses for addicts in New Haven.
------------------------------------
“This important legislation will help level the playing field for Connecticut’s racial minorities,” said Rev. Anthony Bennett of Mt. Aery Baptist Church in Bridgeport and Co-Chair of CONECT. “Despite important gains in criminal justice reform here in Connecticut, racial minorities are still far more likely to have a criminal record, even surpassing national averages. That’s just unacceptable here in Connecticut.”