Emma Goodman, a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society, appeared on Capital Tonight to discuss a bill proposed by state lawmakers that would seal and eventually expunge certain low-level criminal convictions from the public record.

The bill is the latest criminal justice law reform being considered in Albany aimed at reducing the impact of policing, imprisonment and parole in New York.

Goodman discussed the impact that minor criminal convictions can have on the ability of someone to secure a job or housing once their sentence is up – leading to real-world disadvantages that can last a lifetime.

“We’ve been using the phrase perpetual punishment and that’s what it is – it’s a life sentence even after your sentence is complete,” she said. “Having [a criminal record] removed from the public sphere allows people to get jobs, get housing, get loans, go to college . . . All of the things that we think about that people do with their lives, people with criminal records are prevented from doing.”

Goodman cited a recent study in Michigan which found “the recidivism rate for people that have had their records’ sealed actually drops below that of the general public…so that’s pretty incredible, people being given those opportunities actually are better community members, better citizens than people that never had a record in the first place.”

Watch the full segment here.