An Athens-Clarke County Arrest Record Restriction Event will take place at the Goodwill Thrift Store & Donation Center at 4070 Lexington Road, Athens, GA 30605 on Saturday, April 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The event is free of charge for up to 100 individuals who pre-register by March 22. Pre-registration for the Record Restriction Event is required. Registration is available online at www.accgov.com/recordrestriction or with paper forms available at: Wilson’s Styling Shop, 343 N. Hull St.; Jet Cuts, 400 Hawthorne Ave.; and Sheats Barber & Beauty Shop, 1296 W. Hancock St.
Paper forms must be returned to the Solicitor-General’s Office in the Athens-Clarke County Courthouse by Friday, March 20.
The purpose of the event is to assist individuals who were arrested in Athens-Clarke County with restricting eligible misdemeanor offenses from their criminal history and to educate individuals about other options for records restriction and about which charges are not eligible for restriction. For specific cases, individuals may be eligible to restrict their criminal record from public view.
Restricting criminal arrest records for non-criminal justice purposes may help individuals get jobs, housing and a clean start.
Eligibility requirements: include misdemeanor arrests by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Clarke County Sheriff's Office, or the University of Georgia Police Department; no pending charges; charges that did not result in a conviction because they were or found not guilty of all charges at trial; or successful completion of pretrial diversion/first offender program.
Retroactive first offender and youthful offender (under 21) screening will be available.
Attendees must pre-register and bring a valid Georgia or U.S. photo ID to the event. As part of the event, the normal $75 fee associated with the restriction of every arrest will be waived.
Representatives from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Clarke County Sheriff’s Office, Solicitor-General’s Office, UGA School of Law, Georgia Justice Project, and Western Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office, as well as judges from State Court and Municipal Court, are expected to be present at the event to provide additional legal counseling for participants.
The event is being hosted by Athens-Clarke County Solicitor-General C.R. Chisholm with assistance from Municipal Court Judge Ryan Hope, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Justice Project, the Georgia Clients Council, and Goodwill of North Georgia.
Also on site the day of the eveny will be a job fair, to run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and an Access to Justice Initiative Pop-Up Legal Clinic, from 9 to 11 a.m. Neither requires registration and both are free and open to the public
For more information on the Arrest Record Restriction Event, contact the ACC Solicitor-General’s Office at 706-613-3215 or solicitor@accgov.com.