The Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition is hosting a record sealing event tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Fayetteville. The event is in partnership with Legal Aid of Arkansas, who will be offering other services as well, including estate planning, tenant issues and more.
Sarah Moore is the co-founder and executive director of AJRC. She joined Matthew Moore late last week in the Bruce and Ann Applegate News Studio One. She says this event is open to anyone and everyone, no matter their background or income level.
Sarah Moore: At these clinics, we're able to welcome you in and to talk with you and resource you in those areas.
Matthew Moore: How does a person benefit from receiving this sort of aid?
Sarah Moore: So especially for record sealing, what it is, is that if someone has had a past criminal charge, be it a misdemeanor or a felony, there are certain legal requirements that are there that once you have fulfilled the requirements for the courts, be it through restitution, fines and fees or any obligations the court might have, to do a program or completion of certain waiting periods, you basically get to close the door and it's like that charge never happened. And, you know, people get their information run for so many things nowadays, especially in the technology age that we live in, for job opportunities, for housing opportunities, education pathways. And so just a small blemish on individuals' records, for one occurrence, can be the thing that keeps them — sometimes I've talked to people for 10-plus years that always wondered why they couldn't get their foot in the door, but they then would be turned away. And so again, if you just are kind of wondering if there's something but you're not quite sure, this is a great clinic for that. But record sealing is meant to give you a second chance to be able to kind of clear the slate and be able to have those opportunities that maybe are harder. And whenever that is something that you're facing.
Matthew Moore: Tell me a little bit more about your organization's relationship with Legal Aid. What are the symbiotic elements of that? What are the things that they can do that you can't? And how are they dependent on your organization's services?
Sarah Moore: Yeah. Well, you know, we're very embedded in the Northwest Arkansas region. And so, yes, we are deeply embedded with our immigrant community, with the refugee community, with people from many walks of life. And so I think that definitely benefits — Legal Aid of Arkansas has a long-standing background in history of providing legal services for those that really struggle to have access. And so, you know, they have incredible processes. They have gone for many years and figured out what really works to be able to efficiently get people moved through that are needing these services. And so it works out really well that we partner together to really try to clear, you know, as many of these as we can, because you need typically the same amount of individuals to run these, no matter if you serve one person that comes or 100 people. And so for us, that benefit is shared amongst us, that we know the need exists. And so it's harder when they get those on a case-by-case basis. And when you have a clinic where you have folks on hand to help, it helps to cover that many more clients that have the need so that they're not waiting. And then also, for our perspective, we see that need every day coming to our doorsteps. And so it really helps us to amplify our goal, which is to work to keep folks from ending up in these ongoing carceral systems that we know those trip-ups typically continue to cause for them.
Matthew Moore: Talk about the stigma that's involved in why someone may not come to this, or what may keep someone from thinking about going.
Sarah Moore: Yeah. You know, it can just feel probably intimidating to think about, or kind of unpacking maybe trauma or things associated with past things that happened in your background, in your life. But, I have to tell you, this is a very judgment-free zone. I think if you feel like you're maybe going to be morally judged or judged in some way — I think the folks that are here as part of this clinic volunteering, that are offering the services, we unfortunately see this every single day and impact so many people from all walks of life. And so, yes, I think that people oftentimes just don't address it because once they've gotten past it, they maybe don't want to have to touch any of that again. Sometimes you've even just forgotten about it. You forget it exists and you're maybe just fully unaware. I mean, people don't go and address it because they don't really understand all the things that they have to do. And once you've been a part of the courts, and you've felt intimidated by that process, you maybe don't want to go and tangle with it again by trying to file this paperwork. It does have to go back to the courts and go through, they're looking at it. And so I think that can probably cause some hesitation. And so we try to take those intimidations away. We try to — we love to have resources on site. We feed people, we try to chat and get to know one another, offering other services that are happening in the community that folks can connect with. And we do it at a really great place, in partnership. We are really appreciative of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, who really has always been an incredible steward and community partner, as a safe place that we can all be to always get a coffee, have a water, have a safe place to be able to hang out. And so, yeah, I think those are the things that people face oftentimes. I love when I watch somebody come in the door and I see anxiety, I see them almost shaking and not sure. And when they leave and they're smiling and they're exuberant, that they just have a weight — you can tell that's lifted off of them. Then we know we're doing what we need to be doing. And so we love that we're able to help to take some of the trepidation and some of the anxiety in the world that we're living in today, when there's so much people are facing, and just take one more thing that's been causing them trouble and take that off their plate.
Matthew Moore: That was Sarah Moore, executive director of the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition. That event is happening tomorrow from 10 to 2 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. Free food will be available there, too. More details when you search Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition on Facebook.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
