#Roomies, I got some good news. Los Angeles County District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, just secured the dismissal of 66,000 marijuana convictions.
According to the Los Angeles Times,
“Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey on Thursday announced that she had secured the dismissal of 66,000 marijuana convictions in Los Angeles County, marking a major step in a growing national effort to undo the harsh effects of a decades-long drug war.”
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Last week, Lacey filed a motion requesting Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, Sam Ohta, to dismiss 62,000 felony convictions going as far back as 1961, and 4,000 misdemeanor convictions in 10 cities across the county. Her request was granted, according to reports.
In an interview, Lacey stated,
“What this does is correct that inequity of the past. It gives them a start, a new start.”
Los Angeles Times reports that this is a “partnership with Code for America, a nonprofit tech organization that developed a computer algorithm to quickly analyze county data to determine which cases were eligible to be cleared under Proposition 64, which in 2016 legalized, among other things, the possession and purchase of up to an ounce of marijuana and allowed people to grow as many as six plants for personal use.”
Essentially, 22,000 people no longer have felonies in California and 15,000 people no longer have a record at all. Out of those impacted, 32% are Black, 45% are Latino, and 20% are white.
According to Evonne Silva, Code for America’s Senior Program Director of Criminal Justice,
“This is a clear demonstration that automatic record clearance is possible at scale and can help to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs.”
It’s also reported that District attorneys have until July to decide is sentences can be dismissed. According to KTLA, prosecutors in Chicago, Seattle, and Baltimore have said they would clear eligible marijuana convictions.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey is seeking a third term.
Leave it to a Black woman to save the day, per usual!
