the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 23, 2025
A new law in Maryland makes it a little easier for people who have served a sentence for a criminal conviction to have their case removed from public court records or expunged. Last year over 54,000 people filed for expungement. But more than two in five are denied because of a technicality or unrelated legal problems. A legal aid group estimates only two percent of eligible people have gotten their records expunged.
It’s much harder to get a decent job or housing if prospective employers or landlords can see a person has served time. This difficulty is estimated to cost workers in the state almost one and a half billion dollars a year.
As many as one in four working-age residents have a criminal record, or one and a half million people. This in a society where poor and working-class people are radically over-represented and incarcerated in the prison system.
Every year around 15,000 Marylanders are released from prison. And a person might have to wait up to 15 years before filing for expungement, depending on the charge.