July 1st 2025: Clean Slate Vs. Set Aside Laws
Second Chances. Different Rules
What you miss can cost you. What you include can too.
Both law types are designed to help individuals move on from past criminal convictions, but they function differently. Clean Slate laws typically provide for the automatic sealing or expungement of certain criminal records after a set period, assuming eligibility criteria. For example, no new offenses and completion of a sentence are met. These laws aim to reduce barriers to employment and housing without requiring the individual to take action. In contrast, Set Aside laws require individuals to actively petition a court to have their conviction set aside or dismissed, usually after fulfilling specific conditions. While both can limit what appears on a background check, Clean Slate relief is often automatic and broader, whereas Set Aside relief is case-by-case and may still require separate expungement to fully remove the record from view.
Clean Slate Laws:
Expungement or Sealing of Records: Clean Slate laws typically focus on automatically expunging or sealing certain types of criminal records after a predetermined period of time has passed, especially for non-violent offenses.
Automatic Process: In some cases, Clean Slate laws establish an automatic process for the expungement or sealing of eligible records, meaning individuals do not need to petition the court for relief.
Broad Application: Clean Slate laws often apply to a wide range of offenses and may have fewer eligibility requirements
Set Aside Laws:
Judicial Discretion: Set Aside laws, also known as record sealing or expungement laws in some states, generally require individuals to petition the court to have their criminal records set aside or expunged.
Case-by-Case Basis: Set Aside laws typically involve a case-by-case review by a judge to determine whether a person's criminal record should be expunged or sealed.
Limited Eligibility: Set Aside laws often have specific eligibility criteria regarding the type of offense, the time elapsed since the conviction, and the individual's behavior since the conviction.
State Examples of both:
Infographic showing the development of clean slate laws across the U.S. since 2018
Currently, 12 states have enacted some form of Clean Slate Law or Set Aside Laws: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Utah, and Virginia. Advocacy groups are lobbying to add the remaining states.
More Information: The Clean Slate Initiative is a movement focused on automatically clearing eligible criminal records for individuals who have completed their sentences and remained crime-free. It aims to remove barriers to employment, housing, and education for millions of people by streamlining the process of record clearance and expanding eligibility. This initiative is a bipartisan effort working at both the state and federal levels to pass and implement laws that automate record sealing.
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DISCLAIMER
The information and opinions expressed are for educational purposes only and are based on current practice, industry-related knowledge and business expertise. The information provided shall not be construed as legal advice, express or implied.
ProScreening
8610 Sandy Pkwy #100, Sandy, UT 84070
June 1st 2025: Education and Employment Spotlight: Cutting Through the Noise. Getting to the Facts.
🔍 Why Verifications Matter
In a competitive labor market, speed and certainty are everything. HR leaders are under pressure to fill roles quickly while maintaining compliance and mitigating risk. Verifications play a critical role in that process—confirming a candidate’s past employment, education, or licensure isn’t just about accuracy, it’s about protecting your organization from liability and poor hiring decisions. At ProScreening, we’ve optimized the verification process to reduce turnaround time, improve completion rates, and eliminate manual burden on your internal teams—so you can keep hiring on track without compromising quality.
⚙️ How It Works
The concept is simple: we contact former employers or educational institutions and confirm the details provided on the candidate’s application. For employment verifications, we confirm job title, dates of employment, and reason for leaving. For education, we verify the degree obtained, graduation date, and GPA, when applicable.
ProScreening offers flat-rate pricing, so our clients can budget with confidence—regardless of how many attempts it takes to get a response.
✅ Automated Dialing Technology
Our system uses call center-grade technology to automatically dial the next verification in the queue, eliminating time lost to misdials and manual searching. This system also ensures that all calls follow a designated priority order—no cherry-picking “easy” calls.
✅ Paced Workflows, Higher Output
Each call flows like a conveyor belt: team members get 30 seconds to document their last call before the next one starts automatically. This steady rhythm means our team completes 15–20% more calls per day than traditional methods.
✅ Team-Based Execution
Instead of siloing work to individuals, we assign verification tasks to dedicated teams with shared goals. Team leaders manage handoffs in real time, eliminating delays and increasing throughput without sacrificing accountability.
✅ Smart Timing & Geo-Targeting
We’ve learned that timing matters. Our system adjusts outreach based on time zone and location, increasing the chances of reaching someone when they’re actually available.
✅ Local Presence Technology
Our phone system displays a local area code or toll-free number when making calls, increasing answer rates and speeding up verifications. People are simply more likely to pick up when it looks like a neighbor is calling.
✅ Internal Source Directory
Our team maintains a comprehensive directory that details the most effective verification methods for previously confirmed employment and education sources. This enables us to streamline the verification process by quickly identifying and utilizing the optimal method, rather than starting from scratch each time.
⚡ Built for Speed and Accuracy
What sets ProScreening apart isn’t just that we verify—it’s how we verify.
📈 The Value for You
These innovations lead to faster turnaround times, higher verification completion rates, and reduced internal workload. Whether you run a small HR department or manage hiring at scale, outsourcing verifications to ProScreening means more time saved, more accuracy, and fewer hiring delays.
Want to Learn More?
Your dedicated account manager can walk you through how our Verifications Service can integrate into your current screening workflow—and help you hit the ground running.
Disclaimer
The information and opinions expressed are for educational purposes only and are based on current practice, industry-related knowledge and business expertise. The information provided shall not be construed as legal advice, express or implied.