“New initiative gives non-violent criminals the chance to clear their record” @ Chicago Reporter

Posted on September 6, 2012

Yana Kunichoff — September 5, 2012: “A new initiative for non-violent offenders offers the chance to have their felony conviction entirely scrubbed from their record. All they have to do is jump through a few extra hoops during a probationary period.

The Offender Initiative Program, created by SB 3349 and signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn in August, would extend conditional probation to an offender with the approval of a judge and a state’s attorney.

The program would be tougher than probation, but the rewards are larger.

‘If someone is sentenced to probation that would mean they were convicted of a crime,’ said Andrew Conklin, a spokesman for State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, whose office would participate in the program. ‘Under this program, if they complete the steps, charges will be dropped, and thus they will not have a conviction on their record.’…………………….”

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