More criminal records in Pennsylvania can be sealed from the public and fewer people may end up on probation or in county jails, legislation signed by Governor Josh Shapiro on Thursday (December 14).
Both bills passed the House and Senate with large majorities Wednesday amid a flurry of year-end acts.
The new probation law aims to limit the length of probation and prevent a return to prison for minor infractions in a state with one of the highest rates of incarcerated or supervised residents.
But it has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the law doesn't fix problems plaguing Pennsylvania's probation system and will do little to reduce the number of people under supervision.
The other bill allows courts to seal felony records for non-violent drug offenses with a minimum prison sentence of less than 2 1/2 years and/or a maximum sentence of less than five years.
Under the state's existing clean slate law, it also allows certain non-violent felonies to be sealed for those without a 10-year conviction and reduces the waiting period for automatic misdemeanor sealing to seven years, instead of 10 years.
Both bills emerged as part of a national overhaul of the criminal justice system to help people leaving prison get on with their lives and find work more easily.
Rapper Meek Mill's case has helped shine a light on Pennsylvania's probation system after he spent most of his adult life on probation — including prison terms for technical violations — before a court overturned his drug and gun conviction in Philadelphia.
The bill would limit the circumstances under which a nonviolent offender on probation can be sent to prison. However, it does not set an upper limit on the duration of the suspension.
Judges can continue to “stack” suspended sentences and impose probation after they are incarcerated, the ACLU said. The bill also fails to provide an automatic or efficient way to end probation early, he said.
Under this, a judge can order probation to end regardless of any sentencing agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant. But judges no longer have much leeway to extend probation.
Probation is required to expire unless the defendant commits a crime that proves he is a threat to public safety, has not completed some treatment, or has not paid restitution under certain circumstances.
The bill also prohibits courts from extending someone's probation for failure to pay fines or court costs if they are found unable to afford them.
At Friday's ceremonial signing of the bipartisan comprehensive surveillance reform legislation, formerly SB 838, Mill took the stage.
Mill was convicted of drug and weapons charges in 2008 when he was 18. Mill faced a series of legal entanglements that helped transform the rapper into an advocate for criminal justice reform and launch the nonprofit REFORM Alliance, whose mission is to “transform probation and parole by changing laws, systems and culture to create real pathways to work and prosperity.” On January 12, 2023, it was announced that Governor Tom Wolf had pardoned Mill on 15 years of drug and gun charges, meaning his offenses would be permanently expunged from his criminal record.
The rapper described how every time he crossed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to take his son to school in New Jersey, he was crossing state lines and “actually committing crimes all the time for technical violations.”
“I had no way of getting over it because I was already in prison all through my 20s. My son saw me in prison. I wanted to take my son to school,” she said before breaking down.
“I don't want to get emotional,” Mill said. “Is very.”
“I'm at a point in my life — we all grew up on the streets,” he said. “We tried to be better, but we were labeled criminals… I had to fight against it all the time to earn my respect and be who I am today, and I'm proud of that. People know that I don't really cry, but I want to say this because there are many young men who follow me on the street and they don't even know what I go through to be in these places with government officials, to change my life, to go up on stage, to be able to speak for a lot of people”.
“It's not about influence,” Mill said. “It's something I stand for. It's something I live for.”
“I don't know how I cried on the news, I don't even cry in my cell! I needed this!” Meek wrote on X, formerly of Twitter, on Friday night (December 15).
“I changed a law on carpet for my people…. Shit made me cry,” he said on Instagram, where she shared a photo from that day. “Thank you @joshshapiropa and everyone who worked on this bill @michaelrubin.”
“Thanks for sharing your voice and your story, Mick. You make an impact on millions of people. Proud we made it,” Shapiro commented in the post.
