The old saying goes, “If you do the crime, you should to do the time.” In reality, however, many ex-offenders find out they’re effectively still being punished after they have served their sentence and have been told they paid their debt to society. These “collateral consequences” of arrest and incarceration include restrictions on potential jobs, housing, and benefits that help people get back on their feet. There are literally tens of thousands of restrictions at the federal, state, and local levels.

One way to alleviate some of these collateral consequences is called expungement. Expungement is a process by which a criminal conviction is effectively erased someone’s record, provided they meet certain criteria. There is already a law that allows first-time, non-violent federal drug possession offenders under the age of 21 to serve one year of probation and have the charges expunged after successful completion.

Today, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D‑NY) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R‑SC) introduced H.R. 2617, “The Renew Act of 2017,” which expands the same expungement eligibility age from 21 to 25 years old.

Expungement expansion could make a big difference in the lives of young adults who make a mistake. Under current laws and practices, the effects of a criminal conviction can burden someone long after they’ve completed their sentence. As I’ve written before, it is simply unfair to expect ex-offenders to become productive members of society and impede their success at the same time.

For more details, please check out this post by John Malcolm and John-Michael Seibler of the Heritage Foundation.