Here’s an article focusing on our #CivicSummer work:
The article is wrtiten by Jason Tashea, who is one of the people who helped pull together Expunge Maryland. He really understands the value of deep youth work supporting apps of this kind.
This is one in a series of posts that help us at Smart Chicago to develop a cohesive product strategy that helps us deliver on the promise of access, skills, and data. As we’ve grown, more and more cities have an interest in how Smart Chicago works and how the model can be used near them. These detailed posts, showing all of the steps we take, are a way to keep us in check locally while be of service nationally. Here’s more information on our model.
Expunge.io is a youth-led project.
Smart Chicago was recently awarded a grant from The Chicago Community Trust to support Expunge.io. This grant, referred to as “Expunge.io Plus,” supports the great work already happening with Mikva Challenge Juvenile Justice Council, LAF, Illinois Legal Aid Online, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, and others, by increasing public awareness, supporting the work of institutions, and documenting the juvenile expungement application process.
There are five main goals of this work:
We know that juvenile expungement is an arduous legal process that prevents many young adults from applying to have their records expunged. The impact of having misdemeanors and/or other lesser forms of criminal activity easily accessible to college admission departments and employers may hinder high school graduates from obtaining advanced degrees or securing career opportunities.
While many records can be erased, people who are eligible for expungement often do not initiate or complete the process because it is complicated, understaffed, and fragmented.
Expunge.io is an on-ramp for the expungement process that helps start the process of erasing juvenile arrests/court records by sending people to the Juvenile Expungement Help Desk. The Juvenile Expungement Help Desk is a place where individuals can meet with an attorney who will review juvenile arrest record, assist with the necessary paperwork and provide additional legal assistance. Lawyers are all available to help eligible people file fee waivers to expunge their records free of charge.
On June 9, 2014, the Juvenile Court Automatic Expungement SB 0978 passed allowing automatic expungements for offenses occurring on or after January 1, 2015 and for those records kept with the Illinois Police Department. It does not remove records maintained at the local law enforcement agency, court clerk, or with the FBI agency nor is it retroactive. Here is a look at the Juvenile Court Automatic Expungement SB 0978:
Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that the Department of State Police shall automatically expunge, on an annual basis, law enforcement records pertaining to a minor who has been arrested if: (1) the minor had been arrested and no delinquency petition was filed with the clerk of the circuit court; (2) the minor has attained the age of 18 years; and (3) since the date of the minor’s most recent arrest, at least 6 months have elapsed without an additional arrest. Provides that a petition for expungement may include multiple offenses on the same petition, if the petitioner is 18 years of age or older and when a minor was arrested and no delinquency petition filed or if filed was found not delinquent of the offense or supervision successfully completed, or the offense would be a Class B misdemeanor or lesser offense if committed by an adult. Provides that the Department of State Police shall expunge all law enforcement records described in this provision on an annual basis. Provides that the Department of State Police shall establish a process for an individual to confirm that all law enforcement records described in this provision have been expunged on an annual basis.
Through this grant, Smart Chicago wants to drive more people to the Juvenile Expungement Help Desk. We call this “flooding the box”. Expunge.io is one step in doing that. Here is a look at the strategies and work outlined in the grant proposal:
Activity I: Develop public awareness through direct community outreach. Smart Chicago will fund events to
Activity I: Secure fingerprint terminal to be stationed at the Cook County Juvenile Court
Activity II: Develop communication strategy to target young adults to apply for juvenile expungements and informing them regarding their application status
Activity III: Expand the Expunge.io website to provide additional information, better filtering system between juveniles and adult expungements, and improve the technology connection between applicant and free legal services
Activity I: Document the application process for general public and website distribution
Activity II: Manage the initiative and its network of partners
Activity III: Identify and document how expungement records are disseminated and what happens to data after a record is expunged
Smart Chicago conducted our eleventh Civic User Testing Group (CUTGroup) test as part of our current work around this grant from the Knight Foundation given to Chris Rudd and Mikva Challenge to “update Expunge.io with new design and new features that will make the web-app more appealing and effective for its users.”
Here are the questions we wanted to answer through this test:
Instead of doing our normal callout to our CUTGroup participants, Mikva Challenge invited their youth to do a test on Thursday, August 28, 2014 from 4:30 – 5:30 PM. We had 7 testers show up to the Mikva Challenge Office at 332 S. Michigan Ave in the Loop. We figured that some of these youth might already know a lot about the Expunge.io website, but we still got great responses and suggestions for improvements.
We invited all of these youth to join the CUTGroup, it was optional for this test, but everyone signed up. Here is a look at what neighborhoods they live in:
View CUTGroup 11: Expunge.io in a full screen map
We did a focus group-style test with two 30-45 minute sessions. One group had 5 testers, and the second group had 2 testers. Testers were asked to respond to the questions on their own, but proctors were at each session to ask questions and get more information and details.
Testers used this form to drive through the test and answer questions. We asked questions about internet and device use, knowledge of the juvenile expungement process, and website review.
We added a new task to the test to gauge whether something stood out to testers after viewing the homepage. After testers reviewed the homepage for the few moments to answer a previous questions, we asked them to turn off their laptop screens and draw what they remembered. Here is a look at their drawings:
We learned that testers like Expunge.io because it is a simple, easy to understand website that clarifies the juvenile expungement process. It’s not about the technology, but instead about sharing and getting information in order to get more juvenile records expunged.
The majority of testers thought that Expunge.io was really easy to use. The language on the website was described as “plain” or “simple” and testers thought the steps made it easy to follow.
6 out of 7 testers (86%) liked the website, and the 1 tester who did not like the website was “in between.”
The biggest issue that needs to be addressed is the fact that some users cannot get through the step-by-step expungement process on the website because of access being restricted by parental controls. This happens to be the case when the links have language that includes “adult:”
Since this website is driven by youth, it is important that youth can access the website at schools and at home and these links should changed so they will not be flagged by parental controls.
When testers were asked to draw the homepage, 6 out of 7 testers remembered the three boxes/steps. These testers, however, were not able to recall the steps specifically or what each step is.
The two pieces of information that really stood out for testers was the fact that there was a cost associated with the expungement process and that you needed to be over 18 before your record was expunged. During the session, some testers felt like this information needed to be better represented at the beginning of the process. Even though there is a fee waiver, testers were stuck on the fact that they would have to pay for the expungement process. Some testers felt that if they are sharing this with their peers and friends, they would not want this type of information to be “hidden.”
6 out of 7 testers generally share information through social media on regular basis. When asked if they would be willing to share information about Expunge.io, all testers were willing to share information to help their friends and the people they know.
When asked to draw the homepage, only one tester noticed the social media icons on the bottom of the page.
MJ (#6) thought that if you do not have a record, “There should a page where it says something like ‘Congratulations! You don’t have a record! Here’s what you can do to help others…”
By providing users a clear call to action would allow more users to help others by sharing information.
Access Restrictions
We learned that through this test that links that have the word “adult” triggers the parental controls and restricts access to the website. Since this is a youth driven website, all links need to be changed to have youth-friendly language so youth can visit Expunge.io at any location.
More information about process
Testers wanted more information about the expungement process cost, fee waivers, and the age restrictions to be more noticeable at the beginning of the process. Most testers felt that if they are sharing this type of information with their friends, it should not be “hidden” in the website but be clear and upfront.
Polar Bear (#3) said that the website needs to “be more specific especially if one that isn’t 18 and can’t do this will want to know from the start.”
More information found in the FAQs should be added to the homepage.
Call to Action
Testers were very interested in sharing this information to their friends and peers because they thought it was important to “help.” Social media should be used more often as a call to action. On this page, as an example, even if the youth is not eligible to apply for juvenile expungement, there should be a call out to share with their networks to spread information about the juvenile expungement process.
Smart Chicago will be working with the Mikva Challenge Juvenile Justice Council to share these results and prepare for two additional tests with youth for Expunge.io. We hope to help create a plan to make this website work for more people.
Here is a final report of the results with notes from each CUTGroup test session, followed by each tester’s responses, and copies of other questions we asked:
The raw test data can be found below with the written answers from every tester.
Here at Smart Chicago, we are interested in technology that helps improves the lives of regular Chicago residents. Expunge.io, a simple tool for kicking off the expungement process by by Cathy Deng and the Mikva Challenge Juvenile Justice Council, is a good example of that.
We’re also interested in helping bring along smart policies that mitigate the need for tech-based workarounds like Expunge.io. Illinois Senate Bill 0978 is a good example of that. Here’s the relevant portion of that legislation:
the Department of State Police shall automatically expunge, on or before January 1 of each year, a person’s law enforcement records relating to incidents occurring before his or her 18th birthday in the Department’s possession or control which pertain to the person when arrested as a minor if: (1) the minor was arrested for an eligible offense and no petition for delinquency was filed with the clerk of the circuit court; (2) the person attained the age of 18 years during the last calendar year; and (3) since the date of the minor’s most recent arrest, at least 6 months have elapsed without an additional arrest, filing of a petition for delinquency whether related or not to a previous arrest, or filing of changes not initiated by arrest.
Again, this is a great step in changing the law around the complex process of expungement. But this article in the Illinois State Bar Journal, Juvenile Justice, Part I: Automatic expungement of juvenile records, hints at the more difficult data/ technology realities behind juvenile records management.
One young woman completed an Illinois Job Corps program and when she applied for her pharmacy technician license, the licensing agency learned that she had an “aggravated battery” on her record, said Carolyn Frazier, an attorney and clinical law professor with the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law. The girl was involved in a fight with other girls at school and was never charged with a crime, yet in some database, her arrest was listed without any dispositional information. Similarly, young man working as a janitor at a Chicago public school was fired after one of his annual background checks showed two arrests. Neither resulted in delinquency petitions or a finding of guilt.
As Frazier put it, we’re in a “brave new world of data integration” where municipalities small and large are sharing information with one another, the state, and the federal government. State police used to send information to the FBI, but that practice ended three years ago.
And the root of the harm:
Like other juvenile justice advocates, Frazier would like to see a legislative commission established to get to the root of why and how confidential information involving minors is being released.
As long as juvenile records are obtained and trafficked by unethical data purveyors, the eventual expungement of that record can have limited value.
Think of it this way: if someone discovers a lie about you in a database on a Tuesday (like the woman with an “aggravated battery” on her record who was never charged with a crime) and that lie is copied to a new database, owned by an unscrupulous data merchant, and the lie is removed from that database on a Wednesday (a successful expungement), the lie from Tuesday still exists, and can still cause harm.
We’ve got to get at the root.
Smart Chicago Collaborative is proud to launch our latest Civic Works Project: Crime and Punishment in Chicago. This project is a collaborative effort among Smart Chicago, FreeGeekChicago, and the Chicago Justice Project.
The Crime and Punishment in Chicago project provides an index of data sources regarding the criminal justice system in Chicago. We aggregate sources of data, how this data is generated, how to get it, and what data is unavailable. This project is a key way we are using the Civic Works grant to use data journalism to uncover the value of data and cover the stories behind the data.
