Some Ordinance Violations May Present Obstacles to Seeking U.S. Citizenship
Most of the time, being charged with a local ordinance (versus a criminal law) violation, the incident is not reported to the Illinois State Police (ISP). The ISP is the state agency responsible for maintaining all arrest records for the state. The ISP has the additional responsibility of relaying this information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
That said, there is no guarantee that an ordinance violation has not been reported to the ISP and FBI. Over the years, I’ve come across a handful of instances where such information was sent to the ISP.
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Expunging or Sealing Criminal Records Doesn’t Improve One’s Chances of Obtaining Citizenship
What I always say to people who is not a U.S. citizen and wants to change his or her legal status, expunging or sealing your criminal background will not improve your chances of obtaining citizenship but could complicate matters. Why? Because any contact with law enforcement (arrests or convictions) must be disclosed to immigration authorities.
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Lack of Transparency Makes Guess Work of Computing Gov. Pritzker Clemency Grant Rates
Long gone are the days when it used to be easy to obtain Illinois clemency grant and denial information, setting forth the criminal offense, county of arrest, and case year of every petition (pardon or commutation) ruled on by the governor. Due to the way clemency information is now “packaged,” I can no longer provide verifiable data on the number of clemency petitions (pardon v. commutation) filed, granted or denied.
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Chicago Sun-Times’ New “Right to Be Forgotten” Policy Doesn’t Help Most Illinoisans Who Deserve a 2nd Chance
Earlier this week I received an e-mail excitedly announcing the Chicago Sun-Times’ new “Right to Be Forgotten” policy, which considers requests to remove certain crime stories.
Having previously written about the adoption of such policies, I was obviously thrilled to hear that, finally, an Illinois newspaper was joining the ranks of other socially progressive news organizations. Unfortunately, the policy doesn’t live up to its surrounding hype.
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Why Aren’t More Illinois Residents Petitioning to Seal or Expunge Their Criminal Record?
Every so often my powers of persuasion fail me and I am unsuccessful in convincing someone of the value of expunging and sealing their criminal record. One person, in particular, is always top of mind. Ian and I crossed paths shortly after he got fired. At the time, Ian was focused on suing his former employer for wrongful termination. Knowing that Ian was not going to get his job back, I tried to convince him to get his criminal record sealed.
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Why Didn’t the Judge Expunge My Criminal Record? Most Likely Reason: Local Prosecutor Objected
Recently I was talking to a downstate Illinois legal aid attorney about expungement/sealing practices in a county across the border from St. Louis.
I told her how some judges in the northern portion of the state routinely seal cases eligible to expunge when state prosecutors object to expunging the record. The attorney exclaimed: “Why would they do that?” It’s a question that I’ve been asking myself a lot lately.
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