The state legislature’s recent passage of “Clean Slate” legislation has focused attention on the need to provide a “second chance” to those convicted both of federal crimes, and who have demonstrated that they have undertaken commendable initiatives to rehabilitate themselves. Earned amnesty for those who have fully paid their debt to society is long overdue, and is consistent with our traditions which recognize the value and need for individual atonement.
Although U.S. District Court judges are vested with both great power, and vast judicial discretion, they do not have the “inherent power” to expunge (or seal) a prior federal conviction. Thus, in United States v. Doe, 935 F. Supp. 478 (S.D.N.Y. 1996), then-U.S. District Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York, after finding the existence of “exceptional circumstances,” expunged a conviction involving a defendant who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of making false statements to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
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