ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Kansas Legal Service is in the process of helping community members with criminal convictions or arrests across the state who may qualify for legal assistance to clear their records and open the door to better employment and housing opportunities.
As part of KLS’s Workforce Development Initiative, the agency hosts Free Expungement and Driver’s License Clinics, including one recently in Liberal.
The clinic aims to remove barriers preventing Kansans from fully participating in the workforce. As part of the clinics, KLS Director of Pro Bono Services Joy Springfield said attorneys and legal staff are available to review cases, answer questions and guide participants through the legal process, with services offered at no cost to eligible participants.
“We’re doing a clinic in Liberal for expungements and for driver’s licenses, expungements for helping people clear their record of any convictions or arrests that are eligible,” she said. “The driver’s license portion is to help people get a pass to get their driver’s license back, to get it valid. If it’s suspended or revoked, we can tell them what their pathway is and what they need to do to get their license back, and if they owe fees or fines, we can tell them which case is the one that’s holding up their license, which one to focus their money on to pay down those fees and fines.”
Springfield said KLS officials also help draft motions or reduce fines.
“We’ll do that too and get them on their way to getting their license back, and if they need Interlocks, we have the application to lessen the monthly amount they have to pay for the device,” she said. “We’ll get that form for them and fill that out, and if necessary, we can call the Department of Revenue and talk with them to see if there’s something else holding up their license.”
Springfield said expungements are for any criminal conviction or arrest for any district court in Kansas.
“Misdemeanors and felonies are available for expungement in Kansas if they’re eligible,” Springfield said. “You have to wait the correct amount of time after you get off probation or parole. You pay off all your fees. They want to see a difference in your life.”
Springfield said expungement clinics are done about twice a month in Kansas counties, with 14 scheduled for this year, including a recent one in Dodge City and one for next Monday in Garden City.
Springfield said once a client’s record is expunged, that record is sealed.
“Employers cannot see it,” she said. “Landlords cannot see it, and a lot of other places cannot see it. It helps them get a job. They don’t have to worry about explaining that. If they just have one case, that gets expunged, and it’s sealed. When they fill out an application for employment, they can say for the box that says, ‘Have you ever been convicted?’ ‘No.’ ‘Have you been arrested?’ ‘No.’ It helps them get over that first hurdle. It also help them with housing as well.”
Though KLS’s services do not go beyond expungements, they can help clients get services from other places.
“We try to connect with other resources and communities, or we know of employers who hire who don’t look at your past, at your record,” she said.
Springfield strongly urged those with records to consider getting them cleared.
“They can stay on your record forever if you don’t get them expunged, and even if you got arrested and say nothing happened, they don’t automatically drop off,” she said. “You have to ask for it to be expunged. If you went to trial and they found you not guilty, you still have to ask for it to get expunged. It won’t automatically go away. The client has to do some kind of request for it to be removed from their record.”