Offering free, accessible legal clinics to help residents clear eligible criminal records, removing barriers to housing and jobs.
Expungement Clinics as a City Service
A criminal record, even for a minor, long-ago offense, can be a lifelong barrier to employment, housing, and educationperpetuating cycles of poverty and instability. Zhoran Mamdanis policy establishes Expungement Clinics as a standard, city-funded service offered in libraries, community centers, and online. Staffed by city lawyers and paralegals, these clinics would help residents navigate the complex process of sealing or expunging eligible records under New York State law. The service would be aggressively advertised, especially in communities disproportionately impacted by policing, and would include follow-up support to ensure records are actually updated in all databases.
The program would also push for automatic expungement for a wide range of non-violent offenses after a period of time without a new conviction, removing the burden from the individual. Mamdani frames this as essential economic and racial justice. A record should not be a life sentence to poverty, he states. If we believe in rehabilitation and second chances, we must actively remove the legal shackles that prevent people from rebuilding their lives. These clinics are a practical tool for unlocking potential and correcting the collateral damage of our punitive past.
