Arrested Development Foundation mission is to help educate the public on the legal options available to clear an arrest record. According to the Legal Action Center, more than 630,000 people are released from state and federal prisons each year with hundreds of thousands leaving the local jails. Although heinous and serious crimes as a whole have been on the decline in the past twenty years, the number, range and severity of civil penalties has increased for those with criminal convictions, and in some cases, are applicable to individuals who were never found guilty of a crime.  The Northeastern Human Resources Association published a report in June of 2005 that stated that roughly 80% of companies surveyed say that even minor crimes reported on an employment application bring up severe red flags when employment decisions are made.  In addition, the study stated that 40% of companies who receive more than ten applicants per opening routinely deny applications before reviewing the circumstances surrounding the crime.

The goal of Arrested Development Foundation is to promote the awareness of expungement options available to citizens in hopes of increasing the number and quality of job opportunities available to low-income people with criminal records. To achieve this mission Arrested Development Foundation will:

5Provide training and technical assistance to agencies and faith-based groups working to improve the employment prospects for people with criminal records and record relief options including but are not limited to expungement, sealing a criminal record, certificate of good conduct, certificate of rehabilitation, executive clemency and case repeal.

5Launch a public awareness campaign that will include expungement summits, media dissemination and online marketing