Nearly 1.6 million criminal convictions have been automatically expunged under Michigan's Clean Slate Act, according to state data.

The automatic expungement process began in April 2023, three years after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the bipartisan legislation in 2020. Under the law, misdemeanors are automatically cleared after seven years, while eligible felonies are expunged after 10 years.

Kamau Sandiford, clean slate program manager for Safe and Just Michigan, said the program has helped open doors to jobs and housing for countless Michiganders.

"Some times we encounter people in their 60s or 70s who lived the majority of their lives with a conviction on their record and they now have this opportunity to have this conviction removed," Sandiford said. "And it's not necessarily because they want better housing or employment but they simply want that stigma removed or they want to die knowing that they're no longer considered a convicted felon."

The Michigan State Police data shows 1,578,501 convictions have been automatically expunged since the program began. Some individuals had multiple convictions set aside, so the exact number of Michiganders who benefited is not known.

Before the legislation was passed, Michigan was not known for automatic expungement. The law made Michigan the third state in the country to adopt such a provision after Pennsylvania and Utah. Portions of the Michigan statute took effect in 2021, and the automatic expungement process began in 2023.

Under the law, up to four misdemeanor convictions and two felonies can be set aside for each individual. Certain crimes are not eligible for expungement, including murder and sexual assault.

A 2025 report from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that prime-age adults with a criminal conviction earn 30 percent less than those without a record.

Beyond the automatic expungement process, Michigan's Clean Slate law also made it easier for residents to apply to expunge other crimes. The City of Detroit launched its own expungement initiative before the state law took effect. To date, the city has helped more than 15,000 Detroiters clear their records under Project Clean Slate.

Before the legislation was passed, only about 80,000 Detroiters qualified for automatic expungement. Now, roughly 168,000 residents qualify, about 4 percent of the city's population, according to the initiative.

Stephani LaBelle, executive director of Project Clean Slate, said people seek expungement because they are being impacted in all aspects of their life.

"Commonly, we think of employment and housing, but someone with a criminal conviction can often not volunteer for their child's field trips or cross into Canada to visit family members," LaBelle said.

The law required the Michigan State Police to develop an automated process for notifying the courts on a daily basis of eligible convictions for expungement. However, private companies still have access to outdated information, LaBelle said.

"We also send our clients' expungement records to a background company that serves as a clearinghouse, so that entity will clear their criminal history from several companies," LaBelle said.

While the law was adopted with bipartisan support in 2020, some Michigan lawmakers opposed the legislation at the time because they thought the automatic expungement provisions should have extended to more crimes, such as drunk driving convictions.

"The legislation and what it targeted demonstrated that punishing people for some of these crimes for the rest of their lives is not productive or efficient for society," Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, said. "However the DUI issue was one that got neglected and was probably one of the largest groupings of individuals who need help."

In 2021, the state passed a separate bipartisan bill package to expand automatic expungement to some first-time operating while intoxicated offenses.

"There was a wide outcry across the state of individuals saying this is a genuine, real problem," McBroom said. "If somebody's DUI from when they were 21 years old stopped them from being a caretaker when they're 65, expungement really seemed like something they should at least be able to apply for."

Upcoming expungement fairs include:

  • April 24: LINC UP Expungement Fair in Grand Rapids
  • April 25: Southfield Deltas Expungement Fair in Ferndale