FAQ & Glossary

Frequently Asked Questions

This project can be pretty sprawling at times, including its fair share of jargon and complicated interactions. We've attempted to explain some of the most commonly confusing pieces here -- feel free to add an issue if you need anything else explained!

You are encouraged to add any questions yo have to our Onboarding Questions document.

Glossary: Acronyms and other terms

Term	Explanation
CfB	Abbreviation for Code for Boston.
CfJJ (sometimes typoed as CJJ)	Citizens for Juvenile Justice, our main partner for this project.
Expungement	The erasing of a legal record so that it no longer exists. While other sources -- like news reports -- might still exist, there is no longer any legal record to support those sources.
Sealing	A process that prevents legal records from being accessed outside of legal proceedings. While the record still exists, a person whose record has been sealed can truthfully tell employers and landlords that they do not have a criminal record, and the record itself cannot be obtained. As with expungement, non-legal sources such as news reports may still publicly include details of a sealed record.
GBLS	Greater Boston Legal Services, who provide assistance to many people attempting to navigate sealing or expunging their records.
NDoCH	Abbreviation for National Day of Civic Hacking, a day of action for Code for America Brigades across the country. NDoCH: Boston 2019 included journey mapping and user testing to support Clean Slate's app work and analysis to support our data work.