Doe v. United States

• Decision Date: 07 March 2016
• Docket Number: 15-MC-1174 (JG)
• Citation: 168 F.Supp.3d 427
• Parties: Jane Doe, Petitioner, v. United States of America, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

168 F.Supp.3d 427

Jane Doe, Petitioner,

v.United States of America, Respondent.

15-MC-1174 (JG)

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

Signed March 7, 2016

GOLUB & GOLUB LLP, 225 Broadway, Suite 1515, New York, NY 10007, By: Mitchell A. Golub, Attorney for Petitioner.

ROBERT L. CAPERS, United States Attorney, Eastern District of New York, 271 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, NY 11201, By: David K. Kessler, Attorney for Respondent.

JONES DAY, 222 East 41st Street, New York, NY 10017, By: Todd R. Geremia, Attorney for Amica Curiae.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOHN GLEESON, United States District Judge:

On June 23, 2015, Jane Doe moved to expunge a now thirteen-year-old fraud conviction due to its adverse impact on her ability to work. The conviction has proven troublesome for Doe because it appears in the government's databases and in the New York City Professional Discipline Summaries. In other words, the conviction is visible to a prospective employer both as the result of a criminal background check and upon examination of her nursing license. Numerous employers have denied Doe a job because of her conviction. On more than one occasion, she was hired by a nursing agency only to have her offer revoked after the employer learned of her record. Despite these obstacles, Doe has found work at a few nursing companies, and she currently runs her own business as a house cleaner. Doe's two children help to support her, and during periods of unemployment, her parents have also assisted her financially.

The government opposes Doe's motion, contending that federal district courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction to expunge a conviction on equitable grounds. The Second Circuit has ruled, however, that “[t]he application of ancillary jurisdiction in [expungement] case[s] is proper.” U.S. v. Schnitzer , 567 F.2d 536, 538 (1977), cert. denied , 435 U.S. 907, 98 S.Ct. 1456, 55 L.Ed.2d 499 (1978). Accordingly, I have weighed the equities in this case, which are grounded in my understanding of Doe's criminal conviction and sentence; I was the judge who presided over her jury trial and imposed punishment.

I conclude that while Doe has struggled considerably as a result of her conviction, her situation does not amount to the “extreme circumstances” that merit expungement. See id. at 539. That said, I had no intention to sentence her to the unending hardship she has endured in the job market. I have reviewed her case in painstaking detail, and I can certify that Doe has been rehabilitated. Her conviction makes her no different than any other nursing applicant. In the 12 years since she reentered society after serving her prison sentence, she has not been convicted of any other wrongdoing. She has worked diligently to obtain stable employment, albeit with only intermittent success. Accordingly, I am issuing Doe a federal certificate of rehabilitation. As explained below, this court-issued relief aligns with efforts the Justice Department, the President, and Congress are already undertaking to help people in Doe's position shed the burden imposed by a record of conviction and move forward with their lives.

BACKGROUND

In 2013, understanding a need to reduce the burgeoning prison population in the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder launched a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system to identify reforms that would ensure that federal laws are enforced both more fairly and more efficiently.¹ The “Smart on Crime” initiative identified five goals, one of which is to “bolster ... reentry efforts to deter crime and reduce recidivism.”² It makes sense that a central aspect of the Justice Department's reentry goal is to help people with criminal records find and keep jobs. The Justice Department has recognized that:

Each year, more than 600,000 individuals are released from state and federal prisons, and over 11 million cycle through local jails. In addition, a broader population—approximately one in three U.S. adults—has an arrest record, mostly for relatively minor, non-violent offenses, and sometimes a result of crimes committed decades in the past. ... “[P]articipation in pro-social behaviors like employment, education and civic engagement—the very things that people with criminal records are often barred from participating in—actually reduce[s] recidivism.”³

Indeed, study after study has shown⁴ —and the government has repeatedly acknowledged ⁵ —that secure employment is one of the best ways to combat repeat criminal conduct.

Spurred by Smart on Crime, the Department's laudable efforts to connect people who have criminal records with jobs include: (1) requiring every U.S. Attorney to designate a reentry coordinator “whose sole purpose is to work on prevention and reentry efforts for the District”;⁶ (2) convening a Federal Interagency Reentry Council⁷ “to reduce barriers to employment, so that people with past criminal involvement—after they have been held accountable and paid their dues—can compete for appropriate work opportunities in order to support themselves and their families, pay their taxes, and contribute to the economy”;⁸ and (3) instructing all U.S. Attorneys to “consider whether [new] regulation[s] or guidance [resulting in collateral consequences]⁹ can be more narrowly tailored ... to avoid imposing an unnecessary burden on individuals reentering society.”¹⁰

U.S. Attorney Offices (“USAOs”) across the country are taking action. They are hosting employment fairs,¹¹ organizing community reentry forums,¹² and participating in federal reentry courts¹³ to help those with criminal convictions get back on their feet and walk out of the cycle that leads people from conviction to unemployment and back into the criminal justice system.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, to her credit, has promoted and expanded on the achievements of her predecessor. On July 30, 2015, three months after taking office, she chaired her first meeting of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council and announced Daryl Atkinson as the Justice Department's first Second Chance Fellow.¹⁴ Mr. Atkinson served 40 months in prison after pleading guilty to a non-violent crime. He faced a series of collateral consequences, including losing his driver's license, which made it difficult for him to secure a job. The Justice Department decided to name Mr. Atkinson a fellow so that he may serve as a colleague on the Reentry Council and as a representative to other reentry stakeholders.

In addition, Mr. Atkinson will serve as an advisor to the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Second Chance programs. Pursuant to the Second Chance Act of 2007, state, local, and tribal governmental agencies and community organizations may receive federal grants for offering reentry services.¹⁵ Since 2009 (the first year that the Second Chance Act was funded), Congress has authorized more than $479 million for grants,¹⁶ and 700 grants have been awarded across 49 states.¹⁷ General Lynch has praised the grantees for “offer[ing] critical assistance to populations at moderate and high risk of recidivism,” such as reentry programs for youth offenders, assistance with finding stable housing for those with mental illness, and offering college credit to incarcerated individuals.¹⁸ On October 1, 2015, General Lynch announced at the Washington Ideas Forum that the Justice Department would award $53 million in Second Chance grants for the 2015 fiscal year alone.¹⁹ In the same month, she awarded $3 million to provide technology-based career training to incarcerated adults and juveniles to prepare them for release and connect them with follow-up career training after they reintegrate into their communities.²⁰ And just two months ago, General Lynch sat down with former and current inmates at the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston to learn about Suffolk County's reentry services, which have had high success rates, to learn more about how and why those programs have been working.²¹

The Justice Department's leadership comes at a critical time in our nation's history, when criminal justice reform is at the forefront of the national agenda. President Obama has undertaken a host of projects to facilitate reentry, including encouraging “ban the box” legislation and directing the Office of Personnel Management to delay criminal history inquiries in the federal hiring process.²² The Senate Judiciary Committee also recently approved the first bipartisan criminal justice reform bill in recent memory, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015.²³

The judiciary has an important role to play in addressing collateral consequences of convictions in order to reduce recidivism. As President Obama stated in a speech at Rutgers University last November:

The goal is to prevent crime. The goal is to make sure that folks are fairly punished when they break the law. But the ultimate goal is to make sure that folks are law-abiding, self-sufficient, good citizens. And everything we do should be designed towards that goal. And if we're doing a good job there, then crime will go down and it will stay down.²⁴

With this background in mind, I review Doe's motion.

FACTS

A. Doe's Background and Crime

Jane Doe is 57 years old. Dep. Tr.²⁵ at 8. She is not married, and she has two children aged 29 and 24. Id. at 8–9. Doe is from Jamaica and is a legal permanent resident of the United States. Id. at 9. She completed high school in Jamaica and also pursued studies in the U.S., where she obtained both her GED and her nursing license. Id.

On July 16, 2000, Doe participated in a fraudulent scheme that was not uncommon at the time. New York's no-fault insurance statute for automobile accidents provides that persons injured in car accidents are entitled to lost wages, medical coverage, and other expenses, and that those benefits are provided without regard to negligence or fault. See N.Y. Ins. Law §§ 5101 et seq. Corrupt health care professionals, lawyers, and others exploited this no-fault scheme by staging car accidents and...