Felony expungement Bill
Mississippi Legislature
2010 Regular Session
House Bill 160
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Bill Text for All Versions 
| 
As Passed the House
| As Introduced
Description: Crimes; revise expunction of certain convictions.
Background Information:
Disposition: Active
Deadline: General Bill/Constitutional Amendment
Revenue: No
Vote type required: Majority
Effective date: July 1, 2010
History of Actions:
1 01/05 (H) Referred To Judiciary B
2 01/14 (H) Title Suff Do Pass
3 01/21 (H) Amendment Failed
4 01/21 (H) Passed {Vote}
5 01/21 (H) Motion to Reconsider Entered
6 01/28 (H) Motion to Reconsider Tabled
7 01/28 (H) Transmitted To Senate
8 01/29 (S) Referred To Judiciary, Division B
Amendments:
| [H] Amendment No 1 Lost {Vote}
Code Section: A 099-0019-0071, A 041-0029-0150
House Committee: Judiciary B
Senate Committee: Judiciary, Division B*
Principal Author: Moak
Title: AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 99-19-71, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE A PROCEDURE TO EXPUNGE CERTAIN FELONY CONVICTIONS; TO AMEND SECTION 41-29-150, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
I havent read through the bill but expunging a convicted felons record is ludicrous. It only blinds the public and lawenforcement from what type of person this really is.
Call today and find out more about this bill!
Editor (whoever you are):
First of all, I want to point out that you have made several grammatical errors in your blog. Before going and speaking poorly of people that you don’t know, I suggest you take a minute to look over what you have written so that you do not appear to be illiterate. The statements that you have made are ignorant and show that you lack any real life experience, so I am now going to take the next few minutes to enlighten you a bit.
Second, everyone makes mistakes, even you… Though some people may make worse decisions than others, we are all flawed people and flawed people make mistakes. It is not the past decisions of a person that dictate who they will be tomorrow. It is, however, people realizing that they have made a mistake and making sure they learn from it so that it does not happen again.
When it boils down to it, the justice system is flawed. I see it being good at doing only two things: wrecking families and destroying the pursuit of happiness. Whether you agree or disagree with me is irrelevant, because you need only take an honest look at our society to see this.
Before completely dismissing the notion that good people do make bad decisions and need to have avenues to assure those decisions don’t haunt them for the rest of your life, I pray that you will attempt to put yourself in another persons shoes and imagine what you had done if you had the exact conditions as they did. Since this post was from a few years ago, I do hope that your close-mindedness has matured a bit, because if not, I foresee a very sad life for you.
Hey sblunt
You are correct, everyone makes mistakes, but mistakes are a far cry from commiting a felony. Listen I dont have a dislike for felones, Hell i have some working for me. The point is people have a right to know what someone is capable of doing.
To an extent, I do agree that some felonies should be known about. Felonies such as murder, rape, robbery, and other violent crimes do need to be known for the protection of innocent individuals. On the other hand, I believe that non-violent felonies should be allowed to be expunged before waiting five years from the completion of whatever sentence was imposed on the individual.
Taking from the fact that you consider yourself to be a conservative, I would assume you hold a certain set of religious values. If this is the case, I’d expect you to have at least a vague knowledge of the Bible. If I am wrong on my assumption, I do apologize, but nonetheless the Bible tells us that adultery is wrong. However, cheating on one’s spouse is not considered a felony in any of the states any longer, and in any states that it is considered a crime, it is never prosecuted. On the contrary, disciplining one’s child to an extent that a liberal citizen deems to be abusive is a felony, even though many times the ones that end up getting charged with felonies lacked proper discipline as a child. How on earth can you say that a parent charged with child abuse for disciplining their child not be enabled to have their record wiped clean? As another example, how is it alright for countless families to have ultimately their entire life savings stripped from them due to the greed of large institutions such as Goldman Sachs selling mortgage backed securities on the secondary market from whom they knew were fraudulent? Do you not realize the impact of those actions on the lower class of our society? Can you not imagine how difficult it would be for those families to have to figure out how they were going to explain to their children that they could no go to college; or even more, how they would be able to provide for their families bare necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing, because they had creditors breathing down their neck demanding payment for past due debts? Can you not see how some individuals would be led to make decisions, such as embezzling company money to pay for transportation costs so they could to work, or writing one too many checks without having the funds necessary to cover those expenses? Yes, there are TEMPORARY avenues to take such as unemployment, food stamps, cash advances, etc., that can help relieve some of the burdens associated with losing everything, but when boils down to it short-term solutions only help in the short-run. However, we do not live in a society that pays hand outs to everyone that needs help. The United States is not a socialist nation. So when people started losing everything they had worked their entire life to earn, it then became necessary for some individuals to do what they had to do to make ends meet. Writing a bad check to pay for the welfare of one’s loved ones is not near as bad as murdering a man in cold blood. Therefore, what I am trying to get you to realize is that of course it is wrong to steal, but when there are no other options for citizens to attain the basic necessities for survival, those individuals do not need to have consequences placed on them that keep them from getting back on feet and label them as a criminal when ultimately they are a caregiver.
You may not agree with what I am saying, but the Bible also tells us in Romans chapter 14:13 this: “Therefore let us stop passing judgement on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.” Disabling US citizens from freeing their name after they have paid their consequences to society does exactly what the scripture says not to do. You do not hound over people when they are down on their luck because you too could one day be in a position similar to many other “felons” no matter how good of a person you are.
I know that I have covered a wide variety of issues here, but the fact is all people are flawed and make mistakes. Some are big and some are small, but ultimately it is only God, and God alone, who can properly judge another individual because we, as humans, are flawed. Not allowing people to be free from public scrutiny due to a decision they made in the past is not right. Instead, you, I and everyone else should stop pointing the finger at impoverished individuals because we want to be safe, and instead we should begin to bring justice to the ones that ultimately caused so many innocent individuals to have their reputation and their life tarnished in a way that can never be repaired. Judging and condemning wrong doers from society is going to determine whether or not our society will continue to advance over the upcoming years.
I do apologize for harping over this issue, but just as you have a right to voice your opinion to the public, I do as well, and allowing ignorance to spread via blogs such as this one do nothing but keep our civilization from advancing to it’s fullest potential. I do hope that I’ve not caused any offense to your beliefs, but I also hope that you can take from this a new perspective on this matter. Thank you and have a good day.
yes I have a felony and misdemeanor I would like to know if there would ever be a law to where I can get my felony expunged with a misdemeanor I caught the mistaminer 1989 for being in a stolen car I caught my felony in 2000 I am 43 years old I’m trying to make a better life for myself my question is will they ever passed a law I know I am not the only 1 out here like this
I have to respectfully disagree with anyone who is against expungement of a record. I was homeless, and on the streets at 18. I had lived in an abusive home, and learned a lot of very destructive habits. I spent 5 years in MDOC, paying for my crime. I payed $10,000 in fines, and did so willingly… My crime? Entering an abandoned building to get out of a storm. I did more time than a convicted child molester for that, and he got good time.
On a case by case basis, expungements are a great idea, and almost all states have them. I’m a 1 time offender, and a college educated computer technician. I’ve had to attempt to start my own business, in the hopes that I can make it work, because no employer in Texas or Arkansas will employ me. There are a lot of tax breaks for corporations willing to take on felons, as was previously stated above…. but the employers do not wish to take advantage of them. If I were in a position to be hiring, I can honestly say I would not hire myself based on the paper record alone, and in a society that is moving more and more towards online applications, this is the norm.
By preventing felons fromworking, logic dictates that they will revert back to their bad habits to survive. It IS logical. Think about it: You have a man such as myself who has dedicated himself to his dream of becoming an IT. He has a felony. He also has three children to support, and will do anything he can to ensure they have what they need to survive. McDonalds pays minimum wage, and he knows that he can get a job there, but it won’t even cover his rent, let alone food, water, electric, a car to get back and forth to work, etc…. If you were this man, busting your ass to find work in a society that has rendered you persona non grata, would you take minimum wage slave labor, or would you do what you had to do?
Give felons the right to work, and give them back their rights. Get off your conservative ass high horses, and look at the world around you. Mississippi has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the entire USA, and the highest recidivism rate, as well. They have no socio-economic programs in place to help the very poor and the convict re-enter society successfuly, yet they bitch about these figures constantly….. Does that seem logical?????????
This is one of those emotional issues for people who are in your position. In your comment you said that you were homeless and broke into a wharehouse to get out of the weather. As a homeless person at the time had you not heard of shelters, I guesss not. The problem is people who comment crimes always play the victim role. You were a victim growing up, you were a victim being homeless, criminals arent victims, their victimizers. You can sugar coat the breaking and entering, but I seriously doubt it had anything to do with the weather. Have you ever watched cops, everybody getting arrested, wines the same old story, Its somebody elses fault, it wasn’t me, etc. If you have cleaned up that is super but everybody needs to know what people are capable of.
As far as being very poor, I grew up poor, hell beleive it or not there are alot of people in government and hollywood that grew up poor. But what I get sick and tired of is people who use being poor as a crutch. Being poor is almost always a direct result of our on habits, devices, and choices. Typically, when any of us struggle and we need to know why, all we have to do is find a mirror, and study our on choices and decisions.
This would be such a blessing to many of us. 11 yrs ag I was caugh with a prescription pill w/o a script- no money for rehab I agreed to a felony. At23 with no council I had no idea the repercussions of that decision. It’s ruined my life. Even though I have done countless hours of vol. work a pillar to my community an changed my life. I have been stripped of my rights because of this. It’s very difficult to get a good job or even pursue my dreams. I only hurt myself- no one but me..Why get painted with the same brush as a person who did physical harm to some one or robbed someone?? Completely not fair!!
Expungements should be on a case by case basis. I was very stupidly involved in a crime when i was 15. But it was an election year so the DA was being tough on crime and my parents were poor so I had a public defender and was prosecuted as an adult. Even though I learned my lesson and have been a model citizen ever since, it has been 30 years, yes, 30 years!!! and this still haunts me and my ability to succeed. I know of people who commit way worse crimes and get off scott free or with a slap on the wrist because they have high paid lawyers or connected lawyers.
You people against this are idiots.With a felony may as well say can’t get a job,place to live,get help with college as far as grants or loans which leaves a person with no options to do anything but rob folks like you just to survive!
Great speech james, but the goverment gives companies substantial tax breaks for hiring felons. I actually have worked with a lot of felons because of the program. Having worked with the public and there finiances for many years, typically people who say they cant find a job usually aren’t looking very hard.
So you think it is smarter for employeers and civilians to not know who has commited crimes. Do you know the statistics on how many felons recommit crimes. Everyone should be aware of who the felons are.
I agree Joey I got a felony back in 07 I have gone to college and graduated and cant get a job because of it. They dont look at the part were we have gotten married had kids to provide for but want to hold it over our heads till we die!
i got caught with stolen property when i was nineteen that i had knowledge was linked to robbery . i agreed to get rid of the merchandise at the time because i was addicted to heroin. I’ve been clean for five years and don’t do as much as smoke a cihgarette. i graduated with a bachelors in dietetics and now having problems getting rwgisted and getting a job for a drug driven offense from years ago. expungment is good you people are not smart
What does having hemophillia have to do with needing to get it off your record. You want get any sympathy from me.
As far as your record just showing the bad decisions you have made, thats exactly the point. Civilians and employers should know if you are the type person to make a bad enough decision to get a felony.
I can’t believe the Hypocrisy on this site. A person ,once their full sentence is served, has paid their debt to society. Yet, When it comes to most jobs, a convicted felon can’t even be on a garbage truck. So are you saying that someone couldn’t have possibly changed their life for the better? What if God only looked at what you did and never forgave, No matter if you asked for forgiveness and changed your ways? So should you suffer for eternity for a mistake that you made at a young age? Think about it. It’s okay to say all of that so long as it’s not happening to you.
A person may serve his debt to the judicial system, but everyone in society has a right to know what you are capable of.
Not all felons are bad people you jerk, my grandma has a felony because her dog bit a federal worker and she didn’t have insurence
But it’s still on her record as a felony
What state are you from? In my opinion the only way that insurance would come into play of her getting a felony would be if there was a law that stated specifically that the a dog must be insured. In Mississippi she would have had to have signed a plea bargain of some sort or the dog just plumb mauled the man and there had been previouse complaints on the dog of which she never heeded the warnings. Some sort of neglegence on her part had to be in play.
I can tell you that robbers, coccaine dealers, and thugs hire good lawyers and get expungments filed every day.
Felony expungement is a good thing. I am a felon and with this law i can get my record expunged, which under the current law i can’t because i plead guilty to strike a deal and the deal was that i plead guilty to what i did and to some thing that i didn’t do. I was 17 when i got the felony and i have hemophillia so i need to get this felony off my record. I graduate college in december and i can’t get a job because of it. So all you people who think that it is wrong to pass this law need to take a better look. I am not a bad person and definitely not a crook like my record says. Your record doesn’t say what kind of person you are, just the bad decisions you have made