Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat, said he sponsored the measure at the request of the nonprofit Jobs Opportunities Task Force.
"These offenses are the most minor, ones rooted in homelessness, poverty and sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Michael Pinard, a law professor at the University of Maryland. "Drink a beer in the Ravens stadium, it is fine. Drink a beer two blocks away, it is not fine."
But the state police and Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy told legislators that they opposed the bill, with the state police saying it would "allow those criminals who graduate to more harmful offenses, such as robbery, theft or assault, to avoid progressive penalties as their past disruptive behaviors may have been purged from the record."
Jessamy and then-Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm supported the automatic expungement bill sponsored in 2007 by Del. Keith E. Haynes, a Baltimore Democrat. Law enforcement agencies noted that they are allowed to keep expunged records for investigative purposes but are barred from releasing them to the public.
Unlike last year's law that covers those who are released without charge, those who are convicted of "nuisance crimes" are required to apply for expungement. They must wait for three years after the conviction or the sentence is completed.
Also, they aren't eligible if they have been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation within three years of the conviction they're trying to expunge.
The state has estimated that about 96,000 people in Maryland have "nuisance crimes" on their records. Those crimes frequently are among several charges from the same incident, according to the Department of Legislative Services. The nuisance charge can't be wiped out unless all the other charges are eligible for expungement.
Despite the changes in expungement law, many who are trying to rebound from brushes with the law say they find it difficult to navigate the complex process.
At a recent seminar on expungement conducted by Matthews at the Prisoners Aid Association of Maryland, Kimberly M. Randall asked several questions.
Randall, 46, is trying to remove a drug possession charge from her record. According to the police report, officers arrested her July 21, 2006, after she bought a "white rocklike substance, suspected cocaine."
