White Collar Support Group and Federal Expungement Initiative to Host Federal Expungement Conference
West Palm Beach, Florida – November 10, 2026 – The White Collar Support Group® and its Federal Expungement Initiative have announced the inaugural Federal Expungement Conference, a national virtual conference focused on the need for a meaningful federal process to expunge eligible federal criminal records.
The Federal Expungement Conference will take place online on Saturday, March 20, 2027, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern/6:00 a.m. Pacific.
The conference will bring together some of the nation’s leading criminal law and sentencing scholars, criminal justice reform advocates, nonprofit organizations, attorneys and people with lived experience to examine one of the most significant unresolved issues in the federal criminal justice system: what happens to a criminal record after a person has completed his or her sentence and demonstrated years—sometimes decades—of rehabilitation?
Among the featured speakers will be four nationally recognized scholars who are co-founders of the Federal Expungement Initiative:
Prof. Rachel Barkow, Charles Seligson Professor of Law at New York University School of Law and a nationally recognized authority on criminal law, sentencing, clemency and criminal justice policy;
Prof. Douglas A. Berman, Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and Executive Director of its Drug Enforcement and Policy Center;
Prof. Mark Osler, Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and one of the nation’s leading scholars and advocates on federal sentencing and clemency; and
Prof. Todd Haugh, Professor of Business Law and Ethics at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, whose scholarship focuses on white collar and corporate crime, compliance, ethics and the consequences of economic crime.
Jeff Grant, Esq., co-founder of the White Collar Support Group® and a co-founder of the Federal Expungement Initiative, will host the conference and participate in its programming.
Representatives of national criminal justice reform organizations, including Right on Crime, The Clean Slate Initiative, and others will also participate. Additional speakers, organizations and programming will be announced in the months ahead.
Across the United States, a growing number of states have adopted clean slate laws, automatic record sealing and other mechanisms that allow eligible people to move beyond old criminal records after completing their sentences and demonstrating rehabilitation.
The federal system is different.
For most people convicted of a federal offense, there is currently no generally available federal statutory procedure allowing a court to expunge or seal a conviction simply because the person has completed the sentence, lived a law-abiding life and demonstrated rehabilitation.
The result can be what the White Collar Support Group has described as a “life sentence after the sentence.”
Long after incarceration, probation or supervised release has ended, a federal criminal record can continue to affect employment, professional licensing, housing, banking, access to capital, education, reputation, family stability and full participation in civic and community life.
The Federal Expungement Conference will focus on whether that system should change—and what a carefully structured federal expungement law could look like.
The conference will examine the legal, constitutional, policy and practical questions surrounding federal expungement, including eligibility standards, waiting periods, judicial discretion, public safety, victim interests, government access to sealed records and the distinction between expungement, sealing, pardons and other forms of post-conviction relief.
The program will also examine lessons from state Clean Slate laws and record-clearing reforms already operating across the country.
Jeff Grant, Esq., co-founder of the Federal Expungement Initiative, co-founder of the White Collar Support Group® and host of the Federal Expungement Conference, said the conference grew directly out of the experiences of people within the White Collar Support Group community.
“Every week in the White Collar Support Group, we meet many people who have accepted responsibility, served their sentences, rebuilt their families and careers, and have lived productive lives for years or even decades—but whose federal convictions remain permanently attached to their names.”
Grant added:
“The purpose of this conference is not to suggest that people who commit crimes should not be held accountable. To the contrary, it stands for one simple principle: those who enter the system for select crimes, served their sentences, made amends and rebuilt their lives should have an opportunity to exit the system pursuant to criteria set by Congress.”
The Federal Expungement Conference is intended to include perspectives from across the political and criminal justice reform spectrum. Additional nonprofit organizations, academics, policymakers, practitioners and people with lived experience will be announced as the conference approaches.
The organizers believe the participation of organizations representing different philosophical and political traditions is essential to developing durable federal reform.
Federal Expungement Conference 2027 will take place Saturday, March 20, 2027 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern / 6:00 a.m. Pacific, online.
The conference will be open to justice-impacted people, family members, attorneys, academics, criminal justice professionals, advocates, policymakers, nonprofit organizations, members of the media and anyone interested in federal expungement, Clean Slate legislation, criminal record sealing, sentencing reform and second chances.
Registration information, the complete conference agenda and additional speakers can be found at federalexpungement.org.
About the Federal Expungement Initiative
The Federal Expungement Initiative was founded by Rachel Barkow, Douglas Berman, Mark Osler, Todd Haugh and Jeff Grant to advance serious scholarship, public education and legislative discussion about creating a meaningful federal mechanism for expungement or sealing of eligible federal criminal records.
The Initiative brings together criminal law scholars, advocates, attorneys, policy organizations and people with lived experience to examine how federal record-clearing legislation could recognize rehabilitation, promote successful reintegration and provide deserving people with a meaningful second chance while preserving appropriate public-safety safeguards.
About the White Collar Support Group®
The White Collar Support Group® is a nonprofit community devoted to serving people and families navigating the white collar criminal justice system.
Through weekly meetings, educational programming, advocacy initiatives and a worldwide peer-support community, the White Collar Support Group provides resources and support for people confronting investigation, prosecution, sentencing, incarceration, reentry, professional reintegration and the long-term collateral consequences of a white collar justice journey.
The White Collar Support Group’s initiatives include the Federal Expungement Initiative, the White Collar Conference and other programs focused on removing barriers that can continue long after a criminal sentence has been completed.
More information is available at prisonist.org.
Media Contact
Company Name: White Collar Support Group
Contact Person: Jeff Grant
Email: Send Email
Phone: 2128593512
Address:516 S. Dixie Highway Box 222
City: West Palm Beach
State: Florida
Country: United States
Website: https://prisonist.org/
