California Policy Lab

Assembly Bill 1076 proposes to extend automatic record clearance in California to certain eligible arrests and convictions. If passed, the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) would, beginning in 2021, identify persons eligible for relief and grant relief without requiring the person to file a petition. The California Policy Lab (CPL) created a computer program to identify eligible arrests and convictions using CA DOJ’s Automated Criminal History System (ACHS). We found that 1 in 8 Californians with a criminal record are potentially eligible to have their full record cleared. Further, approximately 81% of persons with a criminal record are potentially eligible for relief of at least one arrest or conviction (approximately 1.8 million persons in the study cohort).

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant MRP-19-600774.