Ulviya Gamidova and Francisco Padilla started school at San José State University early this year. In mid-August 2013, they and other advanced students in the Record Clearance Project began interviewing their first clients. The Record Clearance Project has since completed nine clients’ cases and has ten more clients’ cases in progress.
The SJSU Record Clearance Project is the only known program in the United States where undergraduates represent their own clients, under the supervision of Professor Peggy Stevenson, an attorney. The Justice Studies students apply the knowledge they gained from Spring 2013 in Justice Studies 140 Practical Legal Skills, where they learned expungement law, legal interviewing, and research enabling to work with their own clients this semester.
Advanced students have facilitated eleven community education presentations and presentations at Elmwood Jail from March 2013 through May 2013. They also interviewed individuals at Speed Screenings, including one held at McKinley Neighborhood Center. In April and May, Record Clearance Project students and alumni interviewed 113 individuals about their next steps in the expungement process.
At court hearings scheduled on October 22 and December 3, the Record Clearance Project will learn again whether their petitions are successful. Regardless of the outcome, clients tell us that the Record Clearance Project is succeeding in “Changing Lives – One Petition at a Time.”
Speed Screenings
To find out whether your conviction(s) can be dismissed, come for a free, one-on-one interview with a student, supervised by an attorney. Please bring your rap sheet or background check report.
To be eligible to dismiss a conviction for which you were sentenced to jail or probation, California law requires that you:
- Not be on probation
- Not be charged with any offense
- Not be serving time for any offense
Please RSVP to the Speed Screening sessions by emailing the Record Clearance Project or by leaving a message: (408) 924-2758.
- Tuesday October 29, 2013 & Thursday November 26, 2013
- 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
- McKinley Neighborhood Center (behind McKinley Elementary School)
- 651 Macredes Ave., San Jose, CA 95116
For more details please refer to the flyer below and share this information with your communities.
Respectfully,
Peggy Stevenson and Yan Yin Choy
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