Cohen Reintroduces Bill to Give Non-Violent Offenders Fresh Start

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today reintroduced legislation -- the Fresh Start Act -- he authored to enable non-violent federal offenders who have served their sentence and are now law-abiding, productive members of society to have their conviction expunged from their records.

“Even if you commit a non-violent offense, you could very well face a life sentence,” said Congressman Cohen. “That’s because the stigma of your conviction will follow you for the rest of your life. Employment, education and housing opportunities – the very things necessary to start your life over – can all be denied because of a past conviction. My bill would give non-violent offenders who have turned their lives around a real chance to start over again.”

Under Congressman Cohen’s bill, to be eligible for expungement an offender can not have committed any other state or federal offense, whether violent or non-violent, and must have met all the terms of their sentence. The bill allows offenders to apply for expungement to the court where they were sentenced and allows the U.S. Attorney for that District to submit recommendations to the court. Applicants who are denied could reapply once every two years. Once seven years have elapsed since an offender has completed their sentence, expungement would be automatically granted. However, the bill would exempt sex offenders and those who commit property crimes or financial crimes worth more than $25,000.

Finally, the bill would also encourage states to pass their own expungement laws for state offenses. States that pass a substantially similar law would receive a five percent increase in federal funding for local law enforcement funds (the Byrne/JAG Program) while those that do not would lose five percent of those funds.

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