States Prepare To Purge Tens Of Thousands Of Pot Convictions
LAPPL News Watch
December 12, 2019
With the tap of a computer key, prosecutors in Los Angeles and Chicago plan over the coming weeks to erase tens of thousands of marijuana convictions from people’s criminal records, a key part of a progressive crime-fighting strategy that is seeking to rectify the wrongs of a decades-long drug war.
Prosecutors and legal aid advocates say purging arrest and conviction records removes barriers to jobs and housing, helping to stabilize and improve troubled communities.
Jettisoning marijuana convictions has taken on added urgency as more states legalize the possession and sale of marijuana, a lucrative trade, and confront the vexing question of how to handle convictions for crimes that are no longer crimes.
“We are undoing the harm prosecutors have caused,” said Cook County State’s Atty. Kim Foxx, whose office handles prosecutions in Chicago, a city of 2.7 million residents, and who has been one of the leading national advocates of expunging people’s records. “Prosecuting these cases was not in the public interest, or in the interest of public safety. These convictions kept people out of the housing market, job market,” Foxx said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “The wrongs of a decades-long drug war.” Oh, dear God, please, please forgive me for the wrongs I committed in arresting all those poor pot pushers. How could I have done such a dastardly deed?
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