GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Cars lined the streets for multiple blocks surrounding the Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation Saturday afternoon. Hundreds showed up looking for a chance to start fresh through an expungement fair.
The event was designed to help people with criminal convictions clear their records. Michigan's Clean Slate Law allows three felonies to be expunged in a person's lifetime, with no limits on misdemeanors. After seven years, applications are permitted to expunge felonies and a waiting period of three years is in place for misdemeanors. It went into effect in April of 2021, and certain convictions will become automatic in 2023.
"We look at people and say 'yes, there was a time where you committed a crime, but you turned your life around,"' said Brandon Davis, Director of Grand Rapids office of Oversight and Public Accountability. "We want to give you the resources to be successful in our community, that’s what this is all about."
More than 400 people preregistered for the event, and by noon, at least 50 had come as walk ins. Staffed by dozens of volunteer attorneys, attendees left with all of the necessary steps to set up a court hearing and clear their record of criminal history.
"As far as living, employment, education, this opens up the door for everything I’ve dreamed about, that I always wanted," said Alfred Fowler, a volunteer at the event. Fowler has a court date set for next month, which would clear two felony drug charges from his record and open doors that had been previously closed.
"It takes a weight off the back of an individual," Davis said. "A criminal conviction can feel like a scarlet letter, it can feel like the world is over, but when they get that expungement now, they feel free from it."
"It's all about second chances and opportunities," said Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom. "We see firsthand in policing, an arrest can impact someone in that they're going to lose their job. And then they're released after they've done their time and they come out and then they can't get a job because of that arrest. So it turns into this cycle. I'm extremely supportive of this and really excited to see the turnout."
RELATED: 'A small chance of hope': The journey to a clean slate begins at Grand Rapids Expungement Fair
For more information on expungement, check out these resources through Grand Rapids' OPA.
More information about the Clean Slate law can be found by clicking this link.
View the full interview with Chief Winstrom at the Expungement Fair below:
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