It’s been nearly two years since Chauncy Stockdale, a South Shore native, returned home from incarceration. Since his return in summer 2024, Stockdale has worked as an organizer with Live Free Illinois, which, along with dozens of like-minded criminal justice and social justice organizations, pushed for the passage of the Clean Slate Act in Illinois. The Illinois General Assembly, during the fall veto session in October 2025, approved its passage. The Clean Slate Act will streamline expungement and record sealing statewide, helping millions of Illinois residents hindered by past arrest and conviction records.
Stockdale recalled how difficult it was to obtain employment after being incarcerated. He participated in reentry programs to build his resume and applied for numerous jobs.
“I was home about a week, got my phone, got access to my bank accounts. I was back outside. I filled out about a million and job applications on Indeed and Zip recruiter, all that,” Stockdale said.
For many impacted by the criminal justice system, the stigma of a conviction doesn’t end once their sentence is complete. A criminal record creates barriers to housing, jobs, and other opportunities.
“I cannot get past those background check systems. I’ve had more than enough people say, ‘I want to give you the job; you have a resume,’” Stockdale continued. “Even for the time I did in prison, I was working. I could not get past a background check system because of my background.”
More than three million adults in Illinois have a past arrest or conviction record. In Illinois, there are more than 1,189 laws that indefinitely punish people with criminal records, most of which create barriers to employment, according to the 2020 report “Never Fully Free: The Scale and Impact of Permanent Punishments on People with Criminal Records in Illinois.”
“Clean Slate matters to me because it’s one of the strongest tools we have to remove barriers that keep our people from fully participating in their own lives and communities,” Stockdale said.
Stockdale and Marvin Treadwell, whom he refers to as his reentry brother, advocated for the passage of the Clean Slate Act by door-knocking citywide, phone banking and attending lobby days in Springfield. Today, after years of raising awareness about the Clean Slate Act, Stockdale, Treadwell and dozens of Clean Slate Illinois Coalition members packed XS Tennis and Education Foundation’s headquarters in Washington Park to witness Gov. JB Pritzker sign the Clean Slate Act into law.
“This victory did not happen by accident or overnight, it was the result of tireless organizing, collaboration, power building by advocates, lawmakers and community leaders, ensuring that over two million people of eligible records are no longer shut out of jobs, housing and education today, the red tape is cut,” Sheena Meade, Clean State Initiative’s CEO said.
Treadwell said today demonstrated the power of organizing and collective power.
“It means that my voice has power. Seeing the power and the people who stood behind us for years, is exceptional. Now, with the numbers behind us, we can do a lot when it comes to organizing and getting people aware of what’s going on,” he told The TRiiBE following the press conference and bill signing.
Lt. Gov Juliana Stratton, state lawmakers Rep. Jehan Gordon Booth (D-92), Sen. Elgie Sims (D-17) and Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie L. Mosser were among the other elected leaders who joined Pritzker and gave remarks during the press briefing.
“This law reduces crime. Study after study tells us that when formerly incarcerated individuals have access to resources, jobs and housing and education, recidivism rates go down significantly. Our people and our communities are better for it and made safer by it,” Pritzker said.
While expungement and record sealing are available for certain convictions, advocates say the process can be arduous and costly. Expungement erases arrests and court supervision, while sealing hides a record from the public view except for law enforcement agencies.
“This law is not about charity. It’s not about forgiveness. This is about justice. This is about redemption. This is about the 2.2 million people who can now step out of the shadows and can step forward and say, I too, deserve a clean slate,” Gordon-Booth said. She’s the lead house sponsor of the Clean Slate Act.
Without the Clean Slate Act, Sims said it would have taken 150 years for the state to approve record sealing and expungement for eligible individuals.
“We’re going to change that here today, because that’s not justice. That’s a broken system, but today we fix it,” Sims said. “This is about creating pathways to opportunity. It’s about employment, housing, education, and, most importantly, dignity. Study after study shows that when people can move beyond their past mistakes, they contribute to the communities, they support their families and they strengthen in our economy.”
Sims added that the Clean Slate Act is a jobs bill. It’s estimated that the Illinois economy will recover $4.7 billion in lost income.
“When you talk about being able to put $4.7 billion back in our economy, that changes how we look. It changes what our economy will look like, and it changes how communities will look,” Sims continued.
While the Clean Slate Act establishes an automatic process for sealing certain records, it excludes serious criminal offenses ineligible for sealing or expungement under current state law. Serious crimes, including violent crimes, sex crimes, DUIs and human trafficking, are excluded from automatic sealing.
“We demonstrated that democracy still works, that we community, can work with our elected officials to bring change to our community,” Marlon Chamberlain, executive director of the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments, said. “Clean Slate does not remove the accountability from what happened. It simply acknowledges that at some point the punishment has to end.”
With its passage, Illinois joins at least half a dozen states, led by both Democratic and Republican governors, that have passed clean slate legislation.
Automated record sealing by the Illinois State Police and Circuit Courts is slated to begin by Jan. 1, 2029.
