A criminal record can impede access to nearly every major opportunity in a person’s life, including employment, housing, and education. Even when a case does not end in a conviction, the existence of an arrest, charge, or indictment can continue to create barriers long after contact with the legal system has ended. For many Texans, record-clearing remedies like expunction and nondisclosure offer an important path toward stability and a chance of moving forward.
However, access to relief is more complicated than it should be. Eligibility rules vary depending on the type of offense, the outcome of the case, waiting periods, and other legal factors. Thus, even when a person is eligible, navigating the process can be difficult. Record management, therefore, is not only about whether relief exists, but also about whether the systems that create, store, transmit, update, and report criminal history information function accurately and objectively. When records are incomplete or outdated across agencies, people are denied opportunities because the information does not reflect their legal status.
For that reason, improving access to record relief must go hand in hand with improving the broader record-management system. Texans should be able to understand whether they are eligible for relief, access the information needed to pursue it, and trust that when relief is granted, their records are updated and handled appropriately.
This analysis examines estimates of eligibility for expunctions and nondisclosures in Texas and highlights the scale of the need for record relief. The analysis was done in partnership with January Advisors and the Office of Senator Royce West. Through this work, Texas Appleseed aims to support policies and practices that expand access to relief, reduce unnecessary barriers, and help more Texans fully participate in their communities and in the economy.
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Texas must streamline the record-clearing process! Over 96% of cases eligible to be deleted from one’s record are dismissals that never resulted in a guilty charge. These Texans are then denied work, housing, and opportunities for themselves and their families to lead stable lives.
🔎Read @TexasAppleseed and January Advisor’s analysis and suggested fixes to improving Texas’ record clearing program
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Over 4 million Texans are eligible to clear their record, and the majority of them were never convicted to begin with. The process to clear one’s record in Texas is confusing and outdated. Outdated background checks cost people jobs and create preventable barriers to success.
🔎Read @txappleseed and @januaryadvisors analysis and suggested fixes to improving Texas’s record clearing program