Detroit Project Clean Slate — Free Expungement

Last verified: April 2026

What Project Clean Slate Is

Project Clean Slate is Detroit’s free expungement program for residents with eligible convictions. The program celebrated its tenth year in 2025, with Mayor Sheffield publicly endorsing continued expansion. Project Clean Slate provides:

• Free legal representation for eligible expungement applications
• Document preparation and court filing
• Assistance with the Michigan State Police criminal-history-record process
• Coordination with the Michigan Clean Slate Act’s automatic-expungement provisions

The Michigan Automatic Expungement Statute

Michigan’s automatic-expungement statute — the Clean Slate Act, building on Public Act 193 of 2020 and subsequent expansions — automatically clears certain conviction records after a waiting period. The statute covers:

• Up to two felonies (with limitations on type and sentence length)
• Up to four misdemeanors
• Specific cannabis-related provisions for pre-MRTMA convictions that would no longer be crimes under current law

The automatic-expungement statute means many Detroit residents with pre-MRTMA cannabis convictions have already had their records cleared without having to file an application. Project Clean Slate helps residents verify and document the automatic clearance.

Pre-MRTMA Cannabis Convictions

Pre-MRTMA Michigan cannabis convictions covered the conduct that would now be lawful under MRTMA’s personal-use floor (2.5 oz public, 10 oz home, 12 plants per residence, 2.5 oz gifting). The categories typically eligible for expungement include:

• Possession of marijuana (small amounts)
• Use of marijuana
• Possession with intent to distribute (small amounts, where the underlying conduct would now be lawful gifting)
• Some cultivation offenses (small amounts within current household-cap framework)

Larger-quantity convictions, distribution-for-remuneration convictions, and convictions involving aggravating circumstances (sales near schools, sales to minors) typically remain on the record even after the automatic-expungement statute’s clearance window.

Why Cannabis Expungement Matters

The MRTMA legalized cannabis but did not retroactively rectify the lifetime consequences of pre-MRTMA convictions. Cannabis convictions on a Michigan record can:

• Limit employment opportunities — many employers run criminal-history checks
• Affect housing applications — landlords routinely run background checks
• Create immigration consequences for non-U.S. citizens (state expungement does not always remove federal immigration record)
• Limit professional licensing in healthcare, education, financial services, and other regulated industries
• Restrict gun-ownership rights under federal law
• Constrain student-financial-aid eligibility in some categories

The Tate Argument and the Equity Throughline

Council President James Tate has repeatedly cited that during the prohibition era, “Detroiters were 30 times more likely to be convicted of a marijuana crime than elsewhere in Michigan.” The disparate-conviction history is the moral and policy foundation for both the equity-licensing framework and the expungement-program emphasis. Project Clean Slate is the back-end remediation effort that addresses the lifetime consequences of pre-MRTMA convictions; the equity-licensing program is the forward-looking effort to seat the previously-criminalized population at the front of the legal market.

Mayor Sheffield’s Continued Endorsement

Mayor Mary Sheffield, sworn in January 2026 with 77% of the vote, has publicly endorsed continued Project Clean Slate expansion. The program is expected to continue and possibly grow through the Sheffield administration. Sheffield’s policy emphasis on housing, family services, and gun-violence prevention aligns with the Project Clean Slate mission — expungement is itself a housing-and-employment intervention.

How to Use Project Clean Slate

Detroit residents with eligible convictions can:

1. Contact Project Clean Slate through the Detroit city website or the Mayor’s Office
2. Bring documentation of any prior Michigan convictions (Certificate of Disposition, court records)
3. Receive an eligibility assessment from program staff
4. Have legal representation provided for the expungement application or for verification of automatic clearance
5. Receive ongoing support through the post-expungement records-update process

For Non-U.S. Citizens — A Critical Caveat

Even after state-level expungement, cannabis-related convictions can produce continuing federal immigration consequences. Federal immigration authorities maintain their own records and can use them in admissibility, deportation, naturalization, and visa contexts even where the underlying state record has been expunged. Non-citizens with prior Michigan cannabis convictions should consult a Michigan immigration attorney before relying on state expungement for any consequential immigration decision — particularly before crossing the Detroit-Windsor border, where CBP officer questions about past use can produce lifetime inadmissibility findings.

Other Resources

• Michigan Legal Help — michiganlegalhelp.org — self-help legal resources for civil matters including expungement
• ACLU of Michigan — aclumich.org — civil-liberties resource for criminal-justice and expungement matters
• Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office — for declination-policy questions and prior-case status checks
• 36th District Court — the court for most Detroit-originating cannabis convictions; provides case-disposition records
• Michigan State Police criminal-history records — for verification of expungement clearance

What to Watch

• Sheffield-administration program expansion — new resources or process improvements
• Federal Schedule III impact on federal cannabis records — the rescheduling could change federal background-check practices
• Michigan Clean Slate Act expansions — further automatic-expungement coverage

Related on this site: The DCC Circuit Split, Detroit Equity Outcomes, Send a Message.