Sterling Scott arrived at St. Mark’s Church in Frankford with the same goal as his peers: to start the process of getting his criminal record expunged.
“My daughter, she attacked me and I wound up macing her,” Scott, 63, said. “I went to the police station to let them know what happened and shortly after that, I guess she called them and they arrested me at the police station.”
At the beginning of the criminal record expungement and sealing clinic on Tuesday, Scott was among 40 people who sat inside a small room of the church listening intently to the lengthy process of what they would have to do in order to get their records sealed or expunged.
Obtaining a person’s criminal history is the first step in the process.
Both the Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity and Community Legal Services of Philadelphia were in attendance. PLSE holds expungement clinics throughout the city that is greatly impacted by arrests with partnering organizations. While PLSE does not accept walk-ins, CLS does at their two offices — Broad and Chestnut, and Broad and Erie
There were few people, like Scott, who stayed for the duration of this week’s clinic and waited in line after to receive services and assistance with looking up his records.
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Dominique “Peak” Johnson is a North Philadelphia journalist. He is one of the founding editors and writers of the North Philly Metropolis, blogger for The Huffington Post and contributing writer to numerous online publications. Click here to learn more about Peak.
