At the 2016 criminal record expungement event, almost 75 of attendees had one or all of their arrests wiped from their criminal record. (Image courtesy of Masasi eHarare).
In partnership with a consortium of Georgia Labor Unions, Fulton County Solicitor General Keith E. Gammage will offer criminal record expungements of a person’s arrest history at the Labor & Government Restorative Justice Freedom Summit this weekend.
The event, set to take place at the I.B.E.W. Building at 501 Pulliam Street SW in Atlanta on Saturday, Jan. 27, will aid in clearing arrests, charges and minor infractions from a citizen’s permanent record, the John’s Creek Patch reported. Only those arrested, but not convicted, of a misdemeanor from any Fulton County police agency are eligible for expungement, however.
The program will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“A criminal record can be a major barrier in seeking employment, housing and education,” Gammage said in a statement. ” … It is more beneficial to us as a society to allow decent citizens the opportunity to work [and] live productive lives than to be held back by minor, youthful missteps resulting in a misdemeanor arrest.”
“By clearing your criminal history as much as possible, citizens are granted freedom to seek better opportunities to improve their lives,” he added.
The John’s Creek Patch reported that an estimated 3.8 million Georgians, or more than one-third of the state’s population, have some sort of criminal record. At the county’s first record expungement event in 2016, close to 75 percent of attendees had one or all of their arrests wiped from their criminal history.
The legal process usually takes a little over 150 days to complete, as an individual is required to obtain several key documents from different agencies. Thanks to the program, however, the process is expedited, allowing citizens to walk away with a clean slate in a matter of hours.
On-site resources at the event will also include an ex-offender job fair, housing assistance for ex-offenders and free legal advice, according to the news site.
