CT: People can put criminal past behind them in the new year (except those with…)
With the new year, tens of thousands of people in Connecticut will be able to put their criminal pasts behind them, and moving forward others convicted of future crimes will have the same opportunity.
The state’s “Clean Slate” law that takes effect today, New Year’s Day, will allow reformed offenders convicted of a lengthy list of misdemeanor and low-level felony convictions to have their criminal records automatically erased.
The law provides for the automatic erasure of the covered misdemeanor convictions after seven years following someone’s most recent conviction and the applicable felonies after 10 years.
…sexual offenses requiring sex offender registration are excluded.
We will have our day, just like others with criminal histories. They fought for their day. We must do the same.
Reminds me of the stories of the leper colonies.
There has, historically, been fear around leprosy and people with the disease have suffered stigma, isolation and social exclusion. Expulsion of individuals infected with leprosy to quarantined areas or special institutions has been the general protocol since ancient times.
Now just replace leprosy with sex offenders, registered offenders etc. The lepers committed no crimes but were treated like criminals. We committed a crime most likely but it is being held over our heads decades past our sentences ended.
Why am I making a comparison? We keep getting pushed further and further from having any rights and being banned from certain areas. We know the pages and pages of new rules and laws they apply each new session with us on a daily basis wondering if that will be the day they knock on our door to take us away.
Cherokee, Interesting that you make that comparison. For the 5 yrs that I’ve had to register, I have been using the Leper comparison also. Nobody that I have ever told this to hasn’t understood what I was talking about, until I explain the commonalities we share.
If we are referring to Biblical leprosy, we are treated more like leprous tax collecting prostitutes. The worst of the worst of the worst, even for those who had charges that would get probation and counseling in a more forward thinking state.
But of course sex offenses are excluded, when are they ever!
Hooray!
Oh wait…. yeah, of course not. 😒🙄
😠🤬
An Abomination!!!!!!!! Here in PA, my charge was F3 (The lowest felony and very slightly above M1). What do we have to do to get the politically charged world we live in, to see the light. NOT to mention THE FACTS. OMG
OH, I forgot to mention, Happy New Year to everyone out there. Well, at least as happy as it can be
Dale
Thank you. Pray for a miracle and hope for a hail Mary pass for the win. Maybe 2023 is our year.
As long as there’s a public registry, does it really matter if one’s criminal record is sealed or expunged? One look at the charges convicted for (and that’s all the registry shows) is all most go by. Few, if anyone, look into the specific circumstances of any given case.
Serious question on this for the FLAC – isn’t this an area which challenges could be made? I mean I get the whole “the registry isn’t punishment” schtick that they put out, but if one segment is excluded from what all other crimes gets – that seems to single things out – yes?
A challenge can be made to anything, yes.
Brian
Many us do not work due to either being held down by the registry or due to failing health like myself. F.A.C does not have endless funds coming in so they have to pick the best fight with the money they have.
Prayers and blessing for all of us in 2023 for victories and celebrations. For where there is truth, there should also be freedom.
Also still awaiting the Ex post facto case decision whenever the courts set a date?
Yes everything can be challenged regardless.
Read the sex offender law and than read the Constitution and you find out that it violates the Constitution not only in one area but multiple areas but as I upset on multiple occasions on this subject politicians do not want the public to know the truth that is why they hide the truth.
One truth in particular that I’m passionate about is the right to vote under the Federal Constitution of the United States it reads that when and inmate has paid his debt to society and this includes probation parole and whatnot that that inmate is supposed to receive all of his rights back this includes the right to vote but each state has its own laws that prevent this.
I have read and honestly I do not remember where but it was a long time ago that Federal Constitution overrides all state constitutions but yet the federal government does nothing in short the Sex Offender Registration is a biased law which automatically makes it illegal it shingles out sex offenders from all other felons such offenders are the only felons that have to register and pay to be on said registry no others do.
Out of all the felons in the United States the 1 million plus sex offenders have the best track record of never committing another crime.
Of the 1 million plus sex offenders in the United States less than 1% are considered violent out of that less than 1% of violent crimes 80% are committed by females.
And yes you can Google these statistics up there are many groups out there that post the statistics but again as I have said before politicians don’t want their voters to know the truth.
Here’s a fun fact: in the United States all sex crimes are considered violent crimes but yet 97.8% of all the sex crimes are under lewd and lascivious codes which are considered nonviolent.
Most public policy decisions aren’t susceptible to Constitutional challenge, for better or worse.
It’s possible that there’s precedent for courts holding that laws like this one violate a provision of the Constitution, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m guessing it doesn’t.
CT is a 10 yr registry state. So after you complete your 10 yrs of registration, this “clean slate” should apply to you. I get it if they’re still on the registry, but if they’re not…well….
I don’t believe that we are being ‘singled’ out in this one in that other high felonies are excluded as well which would include, armed robbery, arson, felonious assault, murder, etc.
SORNA is a sh*tstain on the Constitution. It turned “We the People” into “We the mob.”
Any kind, shape or form of label that has leverage over your life should not be legal. There are laws against shaming, cyber-bullying and doxxing, but those with the SOR label are immune from such “protections.”
I feel like my “inalienable rights” have been alienated long past the completion of my sentence.
If i could have my liberty (to travel freely, among other things) then it would help some with my pursuit of happiness.
If i could get a reasonable job then I could also experience more happiness. Many employers don’t hire registrants simply because they are afraid of the stigma if it is found that they hire registrants, not because of any perceived risk. Miyas law is ridiculous. As with all of the other laws, it would have had no effect on Miya had it been enacted 50 years earlier. It’s just another way to restrict the income of registrants thereby hindering our pursuit of happiness.
Alas, they seem to resent the fact that I even have life. I think they may be secretly working on that one.
I know, my tone is a bit jaded.
I have to say this. I thought long and hard as to why the registry is such a cherished item in the U.S. What I can come up with in my gut feeling is that I believe that this country needs as many reasons as it can in order to justify the actions some may seem not fair, especially if you are on the outside looking in. The Supreme Court, and the lawmakers have to know that it is unconstitutional. The main reason why I believe it is such a cherished item is that it sends a message around the world. That message is that this country will break the constitution to protect it’s kids. I’ve thought of how that fact could help this country’s persona to the outside looking in. I won’t go into detail, but that is a big part I believe.