Noella Sudbury, a former public defender in Utah, has founded Rasa Legal, a nonprofit that uses artificial intelligence to help people with criminal records get them expunged, opening the door to better job prospects. The initiative targets what is described as the "second chance expungement gap": an estimated 20 million Americans are legally eligible to clear their records, typically after remaining offence-free for one to ten years, but have not done so. Sudbury previously helped pass Utah's 2019 Clean Slate law, and her work matters because expungement is linked to significantly better employment and earnings outcomes for people who have served their time.

Rasa's technology can determine a person's eligibility for expungement in around three minutes and has cut the lawyer time needed to file petitions by more than half, from 10-12 hours down to roughly five, with AI drafting court statements for review by a solicitor. Since launching in 2022, Rasa has cleared records for 34,000 people across Utah, Arizona and Pennsylvania, with over 90% of filed petitions approved; more than 70 million American adults hold a criminal record, and research cited in the piece suggests wages rise by an average of 22% within a year of expungement. Fees include a free eligibility check, a $25 attorney consultation and a $500 flat rate for the expungement itself, and the organisation also employs people with lived experience of incarceration, such as Virginia Mireles, to support clients through the process.