Since her days as a public defender in Utah, Noella Sudbury has been obsessed with solving a problem: How do you help someone with a criminal record get a job?
Bottom line: It's really hard.
Sudbury had grown frustrated seeing so many people dedicate themselves to changing their lives but still fail to secure housing or work once background checks were run.
A history of arrests involving drugs or retail theft — the most common offenses — can scare off employers.
"They make assumptions that someone's dishonest, or they're going to steal," she says. "We should have a presumption of innocence, but unfortunately, you see something that scares you, and you make a subjective decision."
Research has shown that, in fact, people who have gotten their criminal records cleared are less likely than the general public to commit a crime.
Back in 2018, Sudbury began running expungement clinics in Salt Lake County. Every time, hundreds of people would show up, some with their children in tow, others driving hours to get there. Every time, by 9 p.m., Sudbury was turning people away, telling them the lawyers had to go home.
The process was laborious. It would take lawyers up to an hour just to piece together what was on someone's record to figure out if they were eligible for expungement under state law.
Sudbury recalls one man who arrived with a rolling suitcase filled with all kinds of documents.
"The amount of paper was so voluminous that he couldn't carry it all. And I'm like, 'This is...
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