Roughly 80 million people in the united states have criminal records, 19 million of those are considered "Felony" charges. This can affect a person for years to come, making it hard for them to seek employment, and when obtaining housing. 

If there are not changes to policy surrounding how formerly convicted persons are classified they'll most likely become repeat offenders. The economy will suffer due to large amounts of people that are excluded from performing certain jobs. Also children of these formerly convicted persons will experience a life of poverty and need more financial support from the government costing tax payers more money to fund social programs. 

There is no better time than now to begin making changes to policy that will allow these persons to have records expunged free of cost to bring millions more individuals to the american workforce. Bringing on increased tax payers and stimulating the economy making for a more harmonious successful nation.