NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano called the legislation “a common sense fix. Those seeking to expunge their records should not be penalized simply because they have recently engaged in behavior that is now perfectly legal under state law.”
Category: Expungement
“Far too many citizens unduly carry the undue burden and stigmatization of a past conviction for behavior that many jurisdictions, and most Americans, no longer consider to be a crime. Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that officials move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
“Tens of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigmatization of a past conviction for behavior that is no longer considered to be a crime. Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that officials continue to take action in order to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
Legislation would incentivize state and local governments to expunge the criminal records of tens of millions of Americans who have previously been convicted of marijuana offenses.
Under the state’s new adult-use legalization law, those with past marijuana convictions may petition for either the expungement of their records or for a re-sentencing of their conviction.
State officials announced: “Approximately 203,000 marijuana related charges are presently being suppressed from background searches and in process to be sealed or expunged. … This will add to the approximately 198,000 sealing accomplished as part of the first round of marijuana expungements for the 2019 expungement legislation.”
333,886 simple marijuana possession conviction records were previously sealed after the state enacted a measure in 2020 to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession offenses.
The new cases consist of both felony and misdemeanor convictions dating back three decades.