AI Granted Freedom Following Complex Legal History
Heather Chase's life took a turn for the better when she found herself at the nonprofit recovery center, The Haven, in her early twenties. Struggling with an addiction to methamphetamine during her teenage years, Heather eventually got sober in 2004 after attending a court-ordered recovery program in Salt Lake City.
For the next 18 years, Heather dedicated her life to helping others at The Haven. In 2014, she graduated college and followed it up with a master's degree in 2015. However, her past continued to haunt her. Landlords repeatedly denied her housing applications due to her criminal record, a burden that followed her for two decades.
In 2023, Heather decided to take a step towards a brighter future. She used an online tool made by Rasa Legal to go through the legal process of clearing her record, known as expungement. This process, which cost approximately 500 euros, was supported by the Fair Work Board.
Rasa Legal's tools have been instrumental in helping many individuals clear their records. In fact, since September 2022, over 22,000 people have used their services, and 5,000 have successfully cleared their records using Rasa's tools. This is more than the free legal clinics in Sudbury offered in the 2010s.
The expansion of legal relief in the last decade and a half has increased the number of people eligible for expungement. Today, 30 states have passed laws to reclassify or downgrade charges associated with nonviolent property or drug crimes. California's Proposition 64, passed in 2017, provided a path for those convicted of marijuana-related crimes to downgrade or clear their convictions.
This leaves some 20 to 30 million American adults, or about a third of people with criminal records, living in a "second chance" gap. To help bridge this gap, Colleen Chien, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has tested a proof-of-concept chatbot based on ChatGPT to help people identify whether they are eligible for expungement in the state of Arizona.
Large Language Models like ChatGPT and Rasa Legal's tools are useful because they can respond to users in other languages, making legal assistance more accessible to a broader audience. A 2020 study found that less than 10% of people eligible for legal relief, such as expungement, actually go through with it.
With her record now cleared, Heather Chase continues to make a difference at The Haven, now serving as its executive director. Her story is a testament to the power of second chances and the importance of accessible legal resources for those seeking to rebuild their lives.
