By Rikki RogersTags: Posted in: Case Study

Enabling Clean Slate for Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection

Enabling Clean Slate for Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection

Outcomes

Outcomes Delivered

As of January 1, 2023, approximately 44,000 cannabis erasure transactions were successfully processed with no errors, and 3,659 expungement messages were submitted to the FBI via COLLECT with no issues.

These cannabis erasures mark the first phase in Connecticut’s robust Clean Slate initiative. The Clean Slate automated erasure system is expected to be fully implemented during the second half of 2023.

Challenge

In 2021, Connecticut enacted a cannabis legalization bill, which included a directive to erase certain cannabis-related prior convictions. Connecticut is one of many states embracing efforts to expunge low-level offenses as part of the Clean Slate initiative, a bipartisan policy model that applies technology to automatically clear criminal records if a person remains crime-free for a specified number of years. Under this model, non-violent offenders have more opportunities to get a fair-paying job, purchase a home, and contribute to their communities.

The challenge with implementing Clean Slate initiatives is that criminal history data is often entered in different formats and stored across different courthouses and law enforcement agencies. Many states don’t have the data sharing and technical infrastructure needed to verify that individuals meet the criteria for their records to be expunged.

Solution

The Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) partnered with Voyatek to develop a Clean Slate automated erasure system as part of its computerized criminal history (CCH) modernization effort.

Voyatek’s CCH Record Management System is purpose-built following service-oriented architecture (SOA) principles for maximum configuration flexibility. This flexibility allowed Voyatek to rapidly adjust to Connecticut’s legislative developments and support the rapid expungement of low-level cannabis convictions.