Jen, a high school senior, was prom dress shopping with some friends when the trio dropped into a department store in search of accessories. On a dare, each of them stole an item; Jen slipped a $12 tube of mascara into her jacket pocket.

Just a few minutes later, she found herself in a room with store security, waiting for local police, and her parents. Just like that, some of her goals for the future were wiped out as if by a giant eraser. Cosmetology license? Renting an apartment? Forget all that — not with a misdemeanor conviction.

Now Pennsylvania’s Act 56 “Clean Slate” will help people like Jen wipe out a past mistake. It’s the first law of its kind in the country. The program will seal certain criminal history data, such as summary convictions and second- or third-degree misdemeanors, as long as the person has completed any associated financial obligations and been crime free for 10 years.

Statewide, more than 30 million criminal records are now eligible for automatic sealing. The records include 23 million “no conviction” offenses, 7 million summary offenses and 84,000 nonviolent misdemeanors. The process is automated, meaning that a person is spared the expenses of going to court and hiring a lawyer. (To check to see if you are eligible, go to MyCleanSlatePa.com.)

“Theft offenses have been a thorn in people’s sides,” said Bernard Sikora, chief probation officer for Monroe County.

“Other examples of misdemeanor offenses are harassment, disorderly conduct, small (drug) possession charges, drug paraphernalia charges and some DUI, such as first offense.”

Sikora explained that Clean Slate doesn’t expunge the past record, which would still be accessible to law enforcement and judicial officers.

“(Clean Slate) will not change the way prior record scores are calculated when a judicial office is doing a pre-sentence investigation,” Sikora said. “It means that there will be limited access to the records by noncriminal justice people.”

The Clean Slate Process

Clean Slate was signed into law about a year ago, and since then the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts/Information Technology Department and the Pennsylvania State Police have been working to develop the complex mechanisms needed for the program. Cases had to be identified and verified; also, the program goal is to process the backlog over the next year. The state has a list by county.

Lois Wallauer, district court administrator of Schuylkill County, explained in simple terms how the process will work.

“The AOPC/IT did a great job in making the process not time consuming,” Wallauer said. “Their managers and the state police worked to put the program together and get all the technology in place.”

Wallauer gave a brief overview of the steps that will take place.

“There isn’t a whole new system, instead they developed a new screen which automatically identifies the eligible offenses,” she explained. “The eligible offenses are sent to the state police in monthly batches, the state police check them and return the batch automatically to the county.”

“The process is not time consuming; but there was a need to establish who performs the process.”

Lehigh County is in the top 10 counties with a backlog: 105,060 cases to be processed per month.

Schuylkill County has a backlog of 34,910 cases to be processed by month. Carbon has 23,110.

Carbon County Clerk of Courts Francine Heaney said that her office will definitely need to set aside time to process “literally thousands of cases.”

“Our paperwork (from the state) says that it shouldn’t take much time,” Heaney said. “We will clarify how we’re going to handle things after consulting with the president judge — the president judge has to approve the cases either by signing or by electronic signature.”

Heaney said the premise and purpose of the program are good ideas.

“These are low-level charges, not serious charges,” Heaney said. “There are many people who could say something like ‘I was 22 and I did something stupid’ – it shouldn’t follow them their whole life.”