A legal service in Eugene is helping individuals clear their criminal records, offering a path to new opportunities in employment and housing. The "Set Aside Clinic" assists eligible individuals in expunging past convictions, which organizers say removes significant barriers to rebuilding their lives.
Tucker Campbell is supervising attorney with Public Defender Services of Lane County. He and his legal team are gearing up to host the final Set Aside Clinic of the year.
So, what exactly does "set aside" mean in the legal context?
“There is a statutory process in Oregon whereby a person who has been convicted of a crime, after a certain amount of time and if they qualify, they can ask the court to set aside their conviction. Meaning the history of their criminal conviction would be essentially wiped off the court record,” Campbell answered.
It's similar to expungement, he said.
“In Oregon, it's called 'criminal history set aside,' but they're the same thing," Campbell said. "It's wiping the record clean of your criminal conviction so that it does not show up on a background check.”
So, who can get their convictions "set aside" and who cannot?
Any Class A felony would not ever be eligible for set aside. "That goes the same for driving crimes like DUI, driving while suspended, reckless driving," Campbell said. "Also, a lot of convictions for sex offenses- in fact- almost all of them, are not eligible.”
Campbell noted most of the types of crimes they are seeing on a person’s criminal history are low-level offenses. "Things like trespassing, petty theft, or shoplifting,” he said.
And, there are also strict timelines and conditions to qualify for expungement.
“Usually, you have to wait at least three years to even be eligible for set aside, and you would have needed to have successfully completed all of the conditions of your probation," Campbell said.
Stephanie Cameron is founder and executive director of the Eugene-based recovery service, Restored Connections Peer Center. As a recovering addict, Cameron has had her run-ins with the law and knows first-hand how a criminal history can continue to punish a person long after they’ve served their time.
“This comes up from the moment they start looking for a job, from the moment that they start looking for housing," Cameron said. "The criminal history follows us our entire life, and it gets in the way of everything.”
Cameron assists the dozen or so attorneys during Set Aside clinics, handing out $37 checks to participants to cover the cost of the fingerprinting portion of the process. She also brings her “lived experience” with the criminal justice system.
“For many years throughout my 13-year career, in recovery peer support I have had to walk through a background check. I’ve had to walk through every single one of my poor decisions and I’ve had to justify and argue the fact that I’m no longer that person," she said. "In 2022, I had my entire criminal history set aside.”
Cameron said the weight of past convictions, and the barriers that follow, don't just impact individuals. They can affect whole families.
“We have families living in cars in the city of Eugene—[parents] who both work, who go to the local gyms to shower and get their children ready for school. And the reason they don't have a home is because of criminal history from seven years ago,” she said.
Criminal history is not a protected class. That means landlords can legally deny housing based on it, Cameron said. For many people in recovery, getting their criminal record set aside is their best hope for a productive future.
Tucker Campbell and his legal team volunteer their office space, documents and time to help people get their criminal convictions expunged. Since their first clinic in 2023, they’ve helped nearly 300 community members set aside their criminal history, with nearly 1,000 convictions expunged.
More than 60 people have appointments for the event on Dec. 19. Campbell said walk-ins are welcome.
“A participant comes to the clinic here at our offices and if they have eligible convictions, we help them draft the motions that they need to file with the court and we provide them information about how to go through that process," Campbell explained. "The person then files the motion with the court. The District Attorney has 90 days to either object or not object. If they do not object, then the court will grant the motion without a hearing. If they object, a hearing will be set. At the end of the day, the judge decides whether or not the set aside should go through.”
Campbell said the Set Aside clinics are what his team looks forward to most each year.
“Because so many participants tell us over and over again, ‘this is going to make a massive change in my life.’ ‘This is going to help me so much.’ ‘Thank you for your time and energy.’ And it’s honestly not something that we hear very often in the line of work that we’re in," he said. "And so, by far and away, the Set Aside clinics are some of the best and most gratifying work that we get to do during the year.”
The final Set Aside Clinic of the year is from 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 PM, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, at the Public Defender’s Office at 180 E. 11th Avenue in Eugene.
