Maryland lawyer Matthew Stubenberg found that in 2015, there were 23,386 people in Baltimore who could have their convicted crimes expunged from their records. Less than one third of these people petitioned for expungement.
Expungement is a legal process that removes information about one’s criminal record from court and law enforcement records. Under the current Maryland law, common offenses like prior drug possession charges and petty theft charges are eligible for expungement. Even some felonies can be expungable, after 10 to 15 crime-free years. This has tremendous implications for people who are held back by their records from getting jobs, pursuing their education, or receiving social services.
But expungement is not an easy process. It requires time, money, and legal assistance. Anyone seeking expungement must first file a petition in court to remove the charge from a criminal record. Although it is free to petition for acquitted charges, there is a $30 fee to petition for convicted crimes. A state’s attorney then has 30 days to reach an agreement on whether or not to bring the matter to court. The court may or may not order the expungement and if not brought to court, a hearing would be scheduled for the expungement instead. A final ruling for expungement can take up to three months. Various organizations and programs in Maryland, such as the Maryland Legal Aid, the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, and the University of Maryland’s Clinical Law department, offer free legal assistance for expungement. One of the biggest barriers to their work is the unit rule.
Due to Maryland’s unit rule, if a person is charged with several offenses relating to one incident, all of the offenses in the same unit automatically become ineligible for expungement. Even if some charges in the unit would have been eligible for expungement on their own, and even if some charges in the unit are acquitted, all of those charges become non-expungeable. There is no exception to the unit rule.
If lawmakers voted to eliminate the unit rule, all charges that would be expungable on their own would remain expungable, even when tied with other ineligible crimes. In February of 2016, over a hundred returning citizens with histories of incarceration rallied in Annapolis to make this change a reality. However, since then, collective action against the unit rule has been largely stagnant. The bulk of the action seems to be occurring amongst lawyers, specifically those who offer pro-bono services to help people expunge what they can of their records.
This past January, Maryland lawmakers discussed and ultimately dismissed the possibility of modifying the unforgiving unit rule to allow partial expungements of non-guilty charges. Even if it had passed, this law would have been a half-hearted step towards improvement at best. The law would have prolonged the expungement process, while still excluding charges that were found guilty but would have been eligible for expungement outside of a unit. Additionally, the law would not have gone into effect until 2021.
Returning citizens have proven themselves to be active advocates of their own rights as citizens. For example, in 2016, formerly incarcerated Marylanders vehemently spoke out against Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of a bill that expanded the right to vote to people who have served time before. This effort was largely aided by groups like Out for Justice, and led to Governor Hogan’s veto to be overrode.
Out for Justice is an organization that aims to empower community members directly affected by the criminal justice system to lead policy reform efforts. The organization now lists abolishing the Maryland unit rule as one of its three main priorities of 2019. Yet the group has not been extending the efforts it once did for the voting rights of the formerly incarcerated in 2016. Although the group's workshops on how to contribute to legislative change through advocacy and education have continued, the group does not host events specifically addressing the unit rule. Out for Justice is not alone in this stagnancy. Other organizations like the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland and the Maryland Alliance for Justice also acknowledge the damages done by the unit rule. All of these groups list the unit rule as one of their priorities to address, but do not provide real efforts to back this claim.
Admittedly, abolishing the unit rule does not have the immediate attention-grabbing allure that the campaign for voting rights had held. The unit rule is a much more complex issue that requires more explanations and advocacy towards the general public. However, organizations that recognize the importance of abolishing the unit rule and have demonstrated their abilities to mobilize the community before should rise to the challenge.