According to recently conducted an empirical analysis of record clearing that they believe has made important inroads into what is known about expungement.

Their formal article on this research examines how expungement works for those who are eligible and the relationship between expungement and important outcomes such as recidivism risk and employment success.

Their study draws three conclusions:

1. Petition-based expungement policies result in very low uptake rates
2. People who receive expungements have very low rates of recidivism
3. Expungement recipients quickly exhibit much better employment outcomes

In this article, the authors summarize their findings.