This past week, my Eagles teammate Torrey Smith and I invited NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie to join us and our teammates Chris Long and Rodney McLeod for a day of meetings to learn about the inner workings and challenges of the criminal justice system.
They were surprised to learn that a third of all Pennsylvanians have a criminal record. That’s right: One-third. Check out the video from our day.
One of the things we learned is that even common non-violent misdemeanors—disorderly conduct; unreasonable noise; trespassing; scattering rubbish; criminal mischief; graffiti—can follow someone for life. Every job application, every attempt to get a lease for an apartment, or a mortgage for a house, finds one out of every three Pennsylvania working citizens having difficulty moving on with their lives due to the stigma of having a prior record.
That’s why, as I wrote last week, I’m supporting The Clean Slate Act (Senate Bill 529 and House Bill 1419), which is designed to give a second chance to those who have a clean record for 10+ years by removing that stigma and allowing them to be a productive member of society.
Shouldn’t we try to help those individuals who are trying hard to rebuild their lives and be a part of the community? Please watch the following video and contact your electeds at www.yesoncleanslateact.org.
