法律翻译 |《哈佛法律评论》第133卷第8期目录+摘要

Laws permitting the expungement of criminal convictions are a key component of modern criminal justice reform efforts and have been the subject of a recent upsurge in legislative activity. This debate has been almost entirely devoid of evidence about the laws’ effects, in part because the necessary data (such as sealed records themselves) have been unavailable. We were able to obtain access to de-identified data that overcome that problem, and we use it to carry out a comprehensive statewide study of expungement recipients and comparable nonrecipients in Michigan. We offer three key sets of empirical findings. First, among those legally eligible for expungement, just 6.5% obtain it within five years of eligibility. Drawing on patterns in our data as well as interviews with expungement lawyers, we point to reasons for this serious “uptake gap.” Second, those who do obtain expungement have extremely low subsequent crime rates, comparing favorably to the general population — a finding that defuses a common public safety objection to expungement laws. Third, those who obtain expungement experience a sharp upturn in their wage and employment trajectories; on average, within one year, wages go up by over 22% versus the pre-expungement trajectory, an effect mostly driven by unemployed people finding jobs and minimally employed people finding steadier or higher-paying work. 

法律对删除刑事定罪（记录）的允许是当代刑事司法改革成果的关键组成部分，并且已经成为目前激增的立法活动之主题。然而，这个话题的争论中几乎完全缺乏关于上述法律效果的证据，部分原因是必要数据（如删除的定罪记录本身）已不可考。而我们通过取得去识别化的相关数据来克服这一问题，并且使用这些数据在密歇根州全州范围内对接受删除记录的人以及相对的未接受删除记录的人进行全面的研究。我们得出了三组关键的实证研究结果。第一，在那些法律上具有删除定罪资格的人之中，只有6.5%的人在获得资格的5年内得以删除定罪记录。根据我们的数据模式以及对从事删除定罪记录业务的律师采访，我们得出了这种严重的“吸收差距”存在的原因。第二，与一般群体相比，那些得以删除定罪记录的人随后的犯罪率与一般群体相比极低——这一发现缓和了常见的对于消除定罪记录提出的基于公共安全的反对意见。第三，那些得以删除定罪记录的人，其工资和就业发展轨迹呈现明显的上升趋势，相比于删除前的情况，其一年内工资的上涨幅度超出22%，这一效果主要是由失业人群重新找到工作，以及最低就业人群找到更加稳定或者更加高薪的工作引起的。

原文链接：

https://harvardlawreview.org/2020/06/expungement-of-criminal-convictions-an-empirical-study/