Safe & Just Michigan’s report, “Clean Slate Year 3: The First Year of Automatic Expungements — Looking Back and Looking Ahead,” outlines both the successes and challenges encountered since Clean Slate became a reality in Michigan. Clean Slate widened the petition process for expungement on April 11, 2021, by making more convictions eligible for expungement and allowing people to expunge more old convictions from their records by petitioning a judge. It was followed by automatic expungement, which took effect April 11, 2023, and removes many lower-level misdemeanors and felonies without the need for a courtroom appearance. In the past year alone, automatic expungement has cleared more than 1.4 million old convictions and given more than 280,000 people a completely clear record.
