Those who have paid their debts deserve a clean slate

The Boston Globe

Thank you for Yvonne Abraham’s article on automated record sealing legislation (“A step we should take,” Feb. 27) for reiterating the obvious. Massachusetts is spending taxpayer funds on reentry programs for youth and adults in the belief that the justice system is about giving second chances.

Without reforming the records system, Massachusetts is giving with one hand and taking away with the other. Studies show any record, no matter how old or minor, leads to job rejections.

Being needed, having a role, and becoming competent and part of a productive community is why work experience is so often transformative. But Massachusetts laws are routinely denying these avenues of opportunity.