WASHINGTON, D.C. – As policy advocates note the Trump administration begins its second term with a convicted felon in the White House, they are seeking progress for prisoner reentry reform in the U.S, as political scientist Dr. Keesha Middlemass explained in an article in Brookings.
Middlemass noted the importance of clean slate legislation, such as the First Step Act or the Second Chance Act, especially in the current economic atmosphere.
Providing rehabilitative programs and retroactive sentencing reductions, the First Step Act was passed in 2018 and was then expanded through the reauthorization of the Second Chance Act, Middlemass said.
And, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, more than 45,000 people had been released early under the laws as of March 2025, but Middlemass claims in the Brookings piece that reentry after incarceration remains difficult in regard to employment and housing.
Clean slate laws, which have been enacted in 12 states so far, are intended to automatically seal qualified criminal records once a person has served their time. These laws improve access to employment, housing, and civic engagement by lowering the stigma and systemic discrimination associated with prior convictions.
The majority of Americans with felony convictions lack the luxury of wealth, celebrity, or privilege that allowed President Trump to be elected by the American people despite his prior convictions, Brookings argued.
“Now that the president of the United States is a convicted felon, could a felony conviction lose its power to stigmatize?” asks Middlemass, implying a racial double standard.
Two federal proposals, the Fresh Start Act and the Clean Slate Act of 2023, aim, they said, to extend similar reforms across the country. Fifty million dollars a year would be made available to states to build automated expungement systems under the Fresh Start Act specifically.
Racial wealth disparities widen, as those with arrest or conviction records earn over $500,000 less over their lifetime than those without, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Middlemass insists experts believe these policies genuinely provide a second chance and are essential in the pursuit of justice.
“Convicted felon”?
Wouldn’t “person convicted of a felony” be more appropriate?