Oakland County Clean Slate Program - FAQs

The Oakland County Clean Slate Program is an Oakland County Michigan Works! program designed to help Oakland County residents get their criminal records expunged which, in turn, leads to access to better jobs, housing and educational opportunities.

The Oakland County Clean Slate Program can only assist residents of Oakland County, regardless where you were convicted.

If you are not a resident of Oakland County, please contact your local Michigan Works! to learn how to request Clean Slate services in your area. If you need assistance locating your local Michigan Works!, please visit the Michigan Works! Network website.

• For Wayne County residents not including the City of Detroit contact SEMCA Michigan Works at semca@semca.org
• City of Detroit residents contact Project Clean Slate at projectcleanslate@detroitmi.gov
• Other counties contact Michigan Legal Help at www.michiganlegalhelp.org or your local Legal Aid Association

• Up to three felonies and an unlimited number of misdemeanors, with certain conditions on the types of offenses that qualify:
  • No more than two assaultive crimes may be expunged
  • No more than one felony conviction for the same offense if the offense is punishable by more than 10 years imprisonment
• The waiting period to apply after a person's monitoring by the justice system ends (i.e. sentencing, probation, release from incarceration, parole, whichever occurred last) if they remain conviction-free. The waiting period will be:
  • Three years for misdemeanors
  • Five years for serious misdemeanors or one felony
  • Seven years for multiple felonies
• Most traffic offenses will be eligible for expungement. This excludes convictions for:
  • Driving while intoxicated (more than one conviction)
  • Traffic offenses that cause injury or death
  • Commercial Driver License violations
• Misdemeanor marijuana possession and use that would not have been considered crimes after recreational marijuana was legalized in Michigan. Judges must grant expungements if prosecutors don't object.
• Multiple felonies or misdemeanors arising from the same 24-hour period are treated as one conviction for the purposes of expungement.
  • None of the offenses can be assaultive, involve the use or possession of a dangerous weapon
  • None of the offenses can carry a maximum penalty of 10 or more years in prison

This is a statewide program and applicants should apply in their county of residence.

The expungement process typically takes at 6 - 9 months to complete, from your first meeting with our attorney to your court hearing.

90% - Of Clean Slate clients that say new or better employment opportunities are their reasons for seeking expungement.
- University of Michigan Empirical Expungement Study, 2019

23% - Wage Increase One Year After Expungement.
- University of Michigan Empirical Expungement Study, 2019

No, Oakland County Clean Slate staff do not have immediate access to court records and/or law enforcement databases. Filing a free online Request for Expungement Services form on the website is the best way to find out if you qualify, as this gives staff the information required to request and review your criminal history from the Michigan State Police. After completing an online Request, a staff member will let you know if you are eligible within at least 90 business days.

• Felonies that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison
• Attempt to commit a felony for which the maximum punishment is life
• Felony domestic violence (if the person had a previous domestic violence misdemeanor)
• Child abuse
• Most criminal sexual conduct offenses
• DUI and traffic offenses causing injury or death

Yes, but these are the eligibility requirements:

• Based upon the language in the statue, individuals with more than one DUI conviction are not eligible for Oakland County Clean Slate services.
• Five (5) year waiting period from the later of conviction, incarceration, parole and probation
• Must be conviction under MCL 257.625
• Must be first-offense for impaired driving (if first-offense impaired driving conviction has already been expunged, then no other impaired driving convictions can be expunged).
• If there was an injury or death involved, even if it’s a first-offense, impaired driving conviction is ineligible for expungement
• If the first-offense impaired driving was committed while the individual held a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and was operating a commercial vehicle, it is ineligible for expungement
• Other factors considered by Courts in determining whether to grant expungement of a first-offense impaired driving conviction include:
  • Whether the individual participated and completed rehabilitative/educational program that was either ordered by the convicting court or voluntarily entered into by the individual
  • Whether the Court believes that the individual benefitted from the rehabilitation/educational program that they participated/completed
  • Evidence of the rehabilitation/educational program that the applicant participated in/completed must be provided by the applicant to the Clean Slate Program as part of the eligibility/acceptance process
• Expungement of a first-offense impaired driving conviction does not remove the conviction from the Secretary of State records and may not affect the ability to have an individual’s driving privileges restored
• The Program does not handle driver’s license restoration

No, according to the Clean Slate laws, only qualifying convictions in a Michigan state court are eligible for expungement.