Rights Restoration
Over-Prosecution Costs Billions in Lost Productivity
Anybody with a felony record knows very well the challenges of finding decent employment and housing. The clear result of felony prosecutions is that good potential workers are kept out of the productive labor force. A report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research states that this under-employment actually reduces the productivity of the…
Read MoreRights Restoration Options Besides Expungement or Set Aside?
We think of Rights Restoration as a hierarchy. At the top is expungement or set aside, which makes the conviction disappear. You can’t get better than that. If you cannot expunge or set aside, the next best thing is to turn a felony into a misdemeanor. This is done through a law that allows a…
Read MoreCan Rights be Restored if Money is Still Owed in a Case?
In our experience, all fines, fees, and restitution must be paid off before people can set aside a conviction. A reduction requires at a minimum to be up to date with a payment plan. The laws do not explicitly discuss money owed, but they do discuss complying with the sentence of the court, which arguably…
Read MoreDo Municipal Court Arrests and Convictions Show up on my Criminal Record?
Because of global accessibility to digitized information and record keeping, data sharing across local, state, and federal governmental agencies has become the norm. The result has been clients who have had municipal court convictions from the 80s, 70s or even 60s pop up on a background check, preventing them from getting an apartment, being hired…
Read MoreWill Setting Aside or Expunging a Conviction Allow Me to Pass a Background Check?
After a successful set aside, the conviction is removed from official records and should not show up in a background check. Oregon law allows you to deny the conviction ever occurred, because under the law it is deemed not to have occurred. While official records can be cleaned up, non-governmental holders of criminal histories, do…
Read MoreFive Things to Know About Rights Restoration in Oregon
1. Expungement clears criminal records Expungement in Oregon is a complete restoration of your rights. Records of the arrest and conviction, including police records, are destroyed and you are allowed to deny the arrest and conviction ever occurred. Only in very limited circumstances can a court reopen a sealed file. If all of your…
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