To start out, I like the idea of expunging people’s records for low level marijuana offences. But, this will take a lot of time and effort and it will probably be really difficult to wipe away all kinds of offences from hundreds of thousands of records. The requirements for automatic expungements are convictions for possession under 30 grams. Judicial review will occur for convictions ranging from 30 to 500 grams. The main issue with all of this that there seems to be no solid direction for this undertaking. Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower is quoted saying “We haven't been given any direction on how we do it after the first of the year.” This really isn’t a new thing since expungements have been done before, just on a case by case basis. This time, lots of cases are being reviewed at the same time which could cause confusion and taking lots of time that could be devoted to other things. Another problem is dealing with people with multiple charges, including a marijuana charge. Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell has questions regarding this new task of expungements, especially people with multiple charges. “I am an advocate of the expungement process. However we don’t know the total workload related to this,” said Asbell. To counter this, some agencies would hire a dedicated person just to sort out the se expungement orders. Peoria Police Department has had a huge influx of expungement orders in recent years. The department received 186 orders in 2019 and over 250 in 2018. The cost of this endeavor will total around $100,000 for researching the records, checking them, and disposing of the offences. The expungement searches will begin on January 1, 2020. By 2021, all records dating back to 2013 will be expunged, and by 2023, cases from the early 2000s to 2012 will be gone as well. This will be a long and lengthy process, but this should work with the smart people already getting to work on it. -OUTATIME002
I agree I think this won't be an easy thing to do, but at the same time after its all said and done, it will be rewarding. It's easy to forget that we are all people, and people make mistakes. Expunging peoples records can only benefit them, and open new doors for them. These people could have lost many opportunities because of their marijuana charges. I’m curious to see how they will deal with people with more than just a marjuana charge. If the other charges are less serious than the marijuana charge I feel like they would just drop them also. -CRJB002
I also agree with what you are saying. Expunging those cases is probably going to take a few years to do because of how many people get arrested a year and on top of that they have to go back further than 2012. It will bring back a lot of hope for people to change their life around. I know things will get technical for some cases on whether or not to free someone completely or to just take time off there sentence if they committed another crime alongside when they found the weed. Batman002
I agree with you 100% on the fact that it will be a long, tedious process to look through these records individually. It will not be easy and I believe the article said they do not know the total workload related to this and that there is currently only one full time position working on pulling up the files. In my opinion it will take so much more than just one person if we expect to do this in a timely manner. Agreeing with you again, it is an issue that there is no solid direction to go in at this point; if this is going to be our new law, which obviously it is, then there should be some sort of instructions across the board in how to handle all of this so it doesn’t become an issue later on in the process. --coffeeplease002
This will be a very tedious and time-consuming process; however, it is important that we begin the expungement process as soon as possible to finish the task and allow those affected to attempt to start over and be able to have successful lives. Though this is not a new process, this capacity of expunging records is not common and finding a starting place will be a bit difficult, but once started, I believe the task itself will become quite easy to go through. -Gamma002
I think expunging the arrest records for low level mariguana arrests is a good idea. I think giving these people a second chance is something that should be done, because people make mistakes. Someone's whole life shouldn’t be ruined because they got caught up with some weed. Having this on their record could very well ruin a lot of opportunities in the future. This push for removing marijuana charges from peoples records is in thanks to the Sheriff Asbell and the Peoria Police Department. This push came into effect after the pending legalization of marijuanna in Illinois. There are some setbacks with this idea though. The expunging of the records will only come into play if the person was arrested with less than 30 grams. Anything more than 30 grams this will have to be done through judicial review. Not only is the amount of weed one was caught with an issue, but determining what to do with other charges one may have. Sheriff Asbell said that they have hired a full time employee to handle expungements. So far there have been 2,500 cases found since 2012 that could qualify. As of right now there's only one full time employee working on it, but if it ends up being more work than anticipated they are ready to hire more. There is a time limit in which this has to be done by. Records dating back to 2013 must be finished by the beginning of 2021. Cases from 2000 to 2012 must be finished by 2023. Any case prior to 2000 must be finished by the year 2025. Money has been set aside for this process. As of right now it’s estimated to cost around $100,000 to research, check, find and then purge the records. Overall this isn’t going to be done overnight, but I think it will be very rewarding in the end, and gives people a second shot at life. -CRJB002
I agree with what you are saying. I think we do forget that people make mistakes and they shouldn’t be punished forever because of it. Expunging these records can give many people a second chance to better themselves. I talked about the issues regarding this too. I’m curious about what they are going to do with the multiple charges. I think they will also have to hire more people to go through the hundreds of thousands case file they have. This will not be an easy thing to do. They still have a lot of work and unanswered questions to figure out beforehand, but I think when it all gets straightened out that it will be very worthwhile.-JU002
Yes I totally agree with you! This expungement process will benefit so many people; like you said people make mistakes and no one should have their life ruined or made harder just because they wanted to smoke some weed. I’m curious to see what they do with the cases that involve other charges, and am curious to see how they handle cases that started with the smell of marijuana. Once they figure out the process of how to do it all in the time frame allowed I think it will be very rewarding for the state of Illinois. --coffeeplease002
I completely agree with you. I think that minor weed charges have ruined many people's lives and made it extremely hard for them to live a semi normal life. It makes it harder to find jobs, get loans, do day to day activities. I said in my response that the expungement process is completely fair to those with minor convictions. You should not have to have a record for the rest of your life because you had 3 grams when you were 17. People's lives will change for the better. Hopefully those given second chances will take advantage of this opportunity and make the best out of it. -wb002
Pot offense expungements is an amazing thing that need to start happening all over the world. Expungements are not something that is new, it's been happening for a while now. And expungements only happened for certain offenses. Expunging all those cases is going to take a little time but it will be worth it. So many people's lives have been destroyed for a small amount of weed. Those people who were thrown in jail for a small amount probably couldn’t find a job and if they could it was a low paying job. In the article it says that “Automatic expungements will be granted for arrests involving less than 30 grams, about one ounce. Convictions for possessing 30 to 500 grams (about a pound) will have to go before a judge, who will review each case individually.” Which I think would help out a lot of people. Because most people that are in jail for that amount of weed were either going to smoke it themselves or they were going to have a few friends over and they were going to smoke it. Expunging all those court cases is not going to be easy. Especially depending on how far back the courts want the Peoria Police Department and the Peoria County Sheriff's Office to back. Because they both have to go back further than 2012. And they only hired one person so far. The person who has that job is going to be overworked for years to come. Then they still have to decide whether or not to drop the whole case when there is weed involved i n the case or to just take some time off the whole sentence. So its going to get tricky trying to figure out what to do some cases. But overall it's going to help people get their lives back. Batman002
I absolutely agree with you no how this will give people their lives back with these expungement polices. It's really sad to see this happen, but the past is in the past and we need to learn from it and I think this is a good first step. This clearly won't be easy and will take a long time, but this will not be impossible. I would love to see changes being done soon in terms of reform and giving those incarcerated people a second chance , but it will take a lot of time. I hope things happen soon, to keep up with social change. -OUTATIME002
I agree I think the expunging cases where small amounts of weed are involved is going to benefit so many people. I think that if this went nation wide so many more people would be given great opportunities to do good. Weed is so common now a days I don't see a point in ruining someone's future because of it. Weed literally grows from the ground, so how could a natural occuring plant destroy lives. I think that only having one person to examine all of these cases is going to be very stressful. Hiring more people to help with the expunging process with increased production, and help take some stress on the current employee. -CRJB002
I think expungement of records that involve low offense marijuana convictions is a good idea. Although this will take a lot of work and time to complete, I think it may be worth it since people do make mistakes. This article states that expungement, by theory, will give people a second chance with a clean record. We have all studied how hard it is for a former prisoner to get back on his or her feet after jail time. They have a hard time finding a job, which does not allow them to make money for housing or food. All of this could also make the person reoffended. So, I think expungement of marijuana charges is a good thing because it will allow these low level offenders to have a chance to better themselves. Although expungement have been done in the past, this will be a hard process. It has usually been on a case-by-case basis where a person petitioned a judge about a specific case or file, according to the article. There are some obstacles to this process. There is no real instruction on how to go about this. Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower stated, “We haven’t been given any direction on how we do it after the first of the year.” Another problem would be that there will be hundreds of thousands of files to go through. Asbell’s office has the funds for one employee to go through the records, and with all things considered have to hire more before the law goes into effect. This idea for expungement also raises questions about multiple charges, including a marijuana charge. Some examples from the article are, does the entire file go? Does just the reference to marijuana get eliminate? And what if the charges stemmed from a search that are begun by the smell of marijuana? All of these are good questions. This process does need some time and work put into it for it can work properly, but I think it will be worth it in the end.-JU002
I agree with you on that where you believe people do mistakes and that it is so hard for them to have more of a normal life because of their record. The example you gave was them not being able to get a job which I think is sad because some people truly want to work and earn money for their families however a stupid mistake cost them that. One small marijuana charge should not define who they are. I do believe in second chances and I think that the expunging will definitely help give more people the chances they deserve. It will take a lot of time, money, and resources but I think it will be worth it. -wags002
Expunging the records of low offense marijuana convicts is not only a great idea, but an idea that in my opinion is a big move for law enforcement. I like how they are not only willing to wipe records clean but are also willing to reduce jail time as well. This could also help improve the public image of law enforcement especially to minority groups. Everyone in our Corrections class is well aware of how long it takes for an ex convict to get a job and get back on his or her feet because of a tainted record. So for that to be able to be prevented is very good for not only the ex convict but their family as well. But that does not mean every one will get a clean slate. Only people that were arrested for 30 grams or less will be automatically expunged. If you were arrested for anything more than that you will have to stand before a judge in which he will review each case individually. One of the question marks about this process that Peoria County Sheriff Asbell produced was about workload. No one knows how long, how many employees are needed, or how much this will cost because of extra staffing. On the other hand though what we do know is the time frame in which they have to complete this. The clock starts January 1, 2020 and ends 2025 so they have a decent amount of time to get these prisoners clean. I believe this could possibly cause a public reform in not only how law enforcement is perceived, but also have an impact on drug crime as a whole.-wiseguy002
It's really sad to see this happen, but the past is in the past and we need to learn from it and I think this is a good first step. This clearly won't be easy and will take a long time, but this will not be impossible. I’m curious about what they are going to do with the multiple charges. I think they will also have to hire more people to go through the hundreds of thousands case file they have. Expunging those cases is probably going to take a few years to do because of how many people get arrested a year and on top of that they have to go back further than 2012. SH002
I agree with you, I think this is huge, and is also a great idea. Reducing the jail time for these marijuana convicts will ultimately cost us less money, less people locked up. This will have a big impact on the lives of many. Expunging these records allows many people to try for better, it is a self-esteem booster. With these records being erased, the title being held by everyone will drop. The opportunities to better themselves will open up. I hope we can all see this being carried out. I am looking forward to see this play out. -KF002
I agree that this will be a positive step for people and law enforcement. There are a number of people that have been ineligible for certain jobs or trades based on a misdemeanor marijuana conviction. This will also free up law enforcement to battle violent crimes and tackle other aspects of law enforcement. This reduction in those incarcerated will save the tax payers money and in the long run help people become productive members of society. -zen002
A lack of resources, specifically of adequate staff, within facilities is largely what contributes to the substandard care of inmates. I like the idea of expunging people’s records for low level marijuana offences. But this will take a lot of time and effort and it will probably be really difficult to wipe away all kinds of offences from hundreds of thousands of records. giving these people a second chance is something that should be done, because people make mistakes. Someone's whole life shouldn’t be ruined because they got caught up with some weed. Having this on their record could very well ruin a lot of opportunities in the future. This push for removing marijuana charges from people’s records is in thanks to the Sheriff Asbell and the Peoria Police Department. This push came into effect after the pending legalization of marijuana in Illinois. Because most people that are in jail for that amount of weed were either going to smoke it themselves or they were going to have a few friends over and they were going to smoke it. Expunging all those court cases is not going to be easy. There are some obstacles to this process. There is no real instruction on how to go about this. Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower stated, “We haven’t been given any direction on how we do it after the first of the year.” Another problem would be that there will be hundreds of thousands of files to go through. The clock starts January 1, 2020 and ends 2025 so they have a decent amount of time to get these prisoners clean. SH002
I noticed that you stated that expungements would take place on lower level pot offenses but im curious as to what you think lower level is. It really depends on who you ask but a gallon Ziploc baggie of weed is considered a low level to some states. I think it is going to be especially hard to expunge people for weed and not pay attention to the numbers because a couple grams is a whole lot different when it's filling up the back of someone's car to the roof. Trust me, I know plenty of people who should stay in jail because of how much pot they had on them at the time of the arrest. FIRE002
I thought the article was interesting. I believe that it would bring down the population in the jails. Also I think this would be a great idea but it's going to be a long process. The reason why it's going to be a long process because they have to go over everyone's records that could be in the computer or on paper work. The disadvantages was the cost to find and drop the charges. They need to find another way so it won’t really cost that much to find and drop the charges. This is why I thought the article was really interesting to read. Softball002
This is talking about how we are going to expunge records that deal will low level marijuana convictions. I think this is great due to the fact that it will help some people get a second chance at life without that marijuana charge attached to them forever. With the upcoming legalization on marijuana it prompted the expungement of the records to form. The ones that will be expunged right away are the ones with less that 30 grams which is the equivalent of about an ounce, those with at least 30 and up to 500 will have to go before the judge so they can review the case to see if it should be expunged or not. The thing is that it is not as simple as it sounds, it seems like there could be issues in figuring out whether certain ones should be or not. For example, if a certain person has the marijuana charges along with other charges should just the marijuana charge go away or the whole file or some other factors make it stay or go? It can cause a lot of issues for the ones where its not just a simple marijuana charge. Another issue could be the cost and the resources, it will cost a lot because of the huge amount of files one would have to go through and having to pay for someone to do that would be a lot especially if they are wanting to go as far as 2000 or earlier. There are times limits beginning on January 1st of 2020 and this will take a lot of time, money, and resources to go through so many years. Not only that, Peoria County had changed its system and this will also cause more work with the expungement due to the fact that they have to get rid of the things that linked to the record. It is a lot of work and money to do this but in the long run I think it would help a lot for those who may have made a mistake at a young age who got caught with marijuana and they are then able to get a second chance or try to help their lives be a little bit better for them. -wags002
The manpower into going through all those records will be labor intensive. Because your talking about decades of paperwork. I believe in some cases that some people should be given a second chance. But thats only for people who were arrested on the small amount of marijuana. But the article also stated that what if one was arrested on a whole bunch of charges and a small amount of marijuana was included in that? Then what would you charge them with? Would the marijuana charge be thrown out but keep the remaining charges? I would think that the marijuana charge would be thrown out since a person already has enough on their plate. Navy002
I think that all drugs arrests that shoulld be expunged should not. Beacuase it’s a choice of
will if someone should should not choose. With marijuana being legal along with many states it made
be be legally stately not federally. I believe that people that who have experimented with weed should
not be punihed to the full extented of the law just beacusde state law saids its legal. We are now
arguing the amounts slight as little as putting them in jail? How much is that deferring our tax dollars?
We could have them set on probation for half the cost. Automatic expungments will be granted fro
arrests less then 30 grams, just let them go. If they ain’t broken windows causing a nuicence or public
trouble police need to take note and let them go. Drugs and marijuana should be differenced in the
pulblic juidicial side of things. I think If it should go beyond that let the judge decide on the crimes
committed and the extent o the law be fully committed. Up in chillicothe, they said areests were made a lot during music festivals and other programs but they couldn’t process how it it’s gonna work? The chief of police of chillicothes’ a time limit on the said he was not really assure that how they were gonna impimit it. Beacuase there is a time limit cases from the last 2000 to 2012 would be expunged to 2012 and would be finished by 2023. So by 2023 all the departments would have 2 years to expunge those of 5 years of 2000. The older ones would end up on microfilm or paper or something other. Either way each department is up to enforce the legalization on marijuana and enforce it. Some might let grams go or some might take the fedreral law and enforce. We may never know? Navy002
I think that all drugs arrests that shoulld be expunged should not. Beacuase it’s a choice of will if someone should should not choose. With marijuana being legal along with many states it made be be legally stately not federally. I believe that people that who have experimented with weed should not be punihed to the full extented of the law just beacusde state law saids its legal. We are now arguing the amounts slight as little as putting them in jail? How much is that deferring our tax dollars? We could have them set on probation for half the cost. Automatic expungments will be granted fro arrests less then 30 grams, just let them go. If they ain’t broken windows causing a nuicence or public trouble police need to take note and let them go. Drugs and marijuana should be differenced in the pulblic juidicial side of things. I think If it should go beyond that let the judge decide on the crimes committed and the extent o the law be fully committed. Up in chillicothe, they said areests were made a lot during music festivals and other programs but they couldn’t process how it it’s gonna work? The chief of police of chillicothes’ a time limit on the said he was not really assure that how they were gonna impimit it. Beacuase there is a time limit cases from the last 2000 to 2012 would be expunged to 2012 and would be finished by 2023. So by 2023 all the departments would have 2 years to expunge those of 5 years of 2000. The older ones would end up on microfilm or paper or something other. Either way each department is up to enforce the legalization on marijuana and enforce it. Some might let grams go or some might take the fedreral law and enforce. We may never know? Navy001
I don't think it is any secret or that it would be a misguided statement to say that law enforcement in today's world, is severely outdated. During the War on Drugs, marijuana was only considered bad because it was coming from outside the country. No one cared to look into what it was or what it did to people. All they knew was that it must be bad and so they named it a drug. Thankfully, the research has finally been done into marijuana and it turns out it is completely safe for most people to consume, therefore the state of Illinois and many other states have legalized the recreational use of pot. That's when the question began on what to do with previous offenders who were charged with pot possession or use, and have it on their record for the rest of their life or are sitting in a jail cell because of it. Now, many Sheriffs offices around the state are beginning to expunge those who they know what offenses due to anything related to marijuana. The struggle is how much it costs to pay people to sit down and go through all of the arrest records and expunge any and all that have to do with the newly legalized marijuana. I support this expungement 110% because quite frankly, I don't think the offenders should've been charged for something so small and harmless in the first place. Pot simply caught a bad rep for years for no justifiable reason and next thing you know, people were getting locked up for smoking a natural grown plant. The unfortunate part about this process is that someone has to physically sort through all of this and we all know that in Peoria County, that's going to be a lot of marijuana related offenses that need to be viewed and dealt with. FIRE002
Marijuana did come from out of this country. But it all started back in the thirties when it wasn’t illegal and everyone was doing it. But when bad things started to happen thats when the governtment stepped in and made it illegal. Now that it is legal its just causing more problems. Look at Colorado, there are more people being admitted to hospitals for being high and crime is up significantly. Even more traffic incidents such as car accidents because people were stoned. Although its a good tax revenue it was a big mistake to make this drug legal. Navy002
While reading the first page of the article, a few questions came to mind. What will happen to those who were convicted with more than just a marijuana charge? Will the entire file be thrown out or just the marijuana charge specifically? Sherif Brian Asbel had the same concerns and made another good point as well; what if the charges stemmed from a search that begun by the smell of marijuana? These are tough questions that have not necessarily been answered yet, but I have hope that those in charge will make the right decisions for the community as well as the perpetrators. While it will be costly to examine all of the records involving marijuana offenses, approximately $100,000, in the long run it will save the state thousands and even millions of dollars. If low level offenses are expunged from records, and even have the ability to release people from jail or prison, we will no longer have to pay to house and feed those inmates; they will be left in the community to tend to their families and jobs as normal citizens without the burden of having to go away. The article claims automatic expungements will be granted to those involving less than 30 grams (one ounce) of marijuana; so many young adults, older adults, and especially juveniles could possibly have a fresh, clean start from all this. With that being said, charges that involved more than 30 grams and possessing up to 500 grams (one pound) will be brought before a judge to review the entire case file individually; I think that is a good decision because anyone possessing more than an ounce was most likely participating in selling marijuana and not just using it for personal use. I also think it’s a good thing there is a time frame on all of the expungements to be more fair for those locked away and for those awaiting trial or a court appearance. For the first time in a long time, Illinois is doing something cool with their criminal justice system and I think it will pay off in our favor.
I think that only the weed charges should be expunged, although if it stemmed from weed than those charges should stick. I understand it's not fair that if the officer smelled weed then searched your car and found 10 bags of heroin in your trunk. If weed was legal the cop wouldn't have searched your car and found the heroin but, you should not have had pounds of heroin in your car in the first place. It could fall into some type of unreasonable search and seizure, but breaking the law is breaking the law in my eyes when it comes to serious convictions like that. -wb002
Article about “Police agencies face task of pot offense expungement” was really interesting. I think this would be a great idea but it's going to be a long process. The reason why it's going to be a long process because they have to go over everyone's records that could be in the computer or on paper work. The article is trying to say the convictions that had less than 30 grams will be have their records dropped unless they did the crime with another crime. If they had more grams over the limit then they have to go in front of the judge to see if he or she will drop the charge. According to Kravetz of Journal Star “ The city, like the county, has hired full-time employee to look over the records.” The sheriff set money on the side for an employee to look at the records to see which one could be expunged. They would have to hire someone else after the first year to look over the charges. The sheriff is for the process but as he said they don’t know what the workload would be. He would need more staffing if it is necessary. They have found 2,500 files from 2012 that could be agreed to the new law. They think it would cost $100,000 to find and drop the charges. This is the only problem because it could cost the state to have jails find and drop the charges. We need to find a way that won’t cost that much money. When the process goes through, this could lower the population of people in jails. Jails wouldn't be so crowded. The reason why I like this idea is because the crime was a nonviolent crime. This is why I thought the article was very interesting. Softball002
I think it is incredible that Peoria is moving towards expunging records involving marijuana. In theory, removing these marijuana related records will allow many people to have a fresh start. These expungements are mainly for the low-level marijuana convictions. Arrests involving less than an ounce of marijuana with qualify for automatic expungement. Someone possessing anywhere from thirty to five-hundred grams will need to go before a judge to be reviewed individually. The process of expunging these marijuana records may sound like a good idea for society, but it will be costly, time consuming, and possibly difficult to decide on stepper cases, who can qualify to be expunged. Then more specifically it will become difficult to ultimately decide what certain or complicated cases get thrown out. The city and county has moved forward in hiring full-time employees to process and decide expungements. From 2012 to current day, the department has already discovered nearly 2,500 files that may qualify to be expunged. It will come an estimated $100,000 for the total expunging process for just back to 2012. The clock work will start on January 1st, 2020. By 2023, the city aims to have cases from 2000 to 2012 finished. Hopefully by 2025 all of the departments will have all of the years before 2000 finished. With all of these expungements will will be giving so many citizens a second chance. I believe this is a big step for our community. Letting go of records for low amounts of marijuana will be good for our community. Marijuana is being used for all sorts of things now and legal in many places. With all of the changes we must find a way to match the justice. I think this is great and will help many people better their home, social, and family lives. -KF002
This article talking about expungement is very interesting to me. The fact that marijuana will be legal in the next coming months had me thinking, what would they do with the people that were convicted on related charges. It makes sense that if they were caught with less than 30 grams that the charge would be dropped from their record and that if it was near a pound they will have to go before a judge and talk to them to get more information on the conviction. Obviously weed is illegal and these people committed these crimes while it was still illegal but to me there are far worse things people could be getting arrested and charged for. Peoria county sheriff Asbell, was talking about people that had multiple charges that came along with the marijuana charge. If an officer smelled weed and searched the car and found an unregistered gun and cocaine should the case as a whole be dropped or just the possession of the marijuana. There are some grey areas with the new law and I don't think anyone can specifically say what is right and wrong. I think it is going to be something that we need to learn from and gain more experience before we get a better grasp of right and wrong. Just like Asbell, I am an advocate of the expungement process. I think that it gives many people second chances at life. People that were charged with a few grams and now have a record and find it hard to get a job will have another chance to have a better life for themselves. To me, marijuana (if used in the appropriate setting) is not bad. I would rather have people smoking weed rather than shooting up heroin and doing more harmful things to their bodies. -wb002
To start, I find the expunging of these low offense marijuana crimes a good thing. I think that removing these folks from our jails will help to bring down the cost of the jails, and overall bring more folks back into the population to work, and provide for their families. I think the best part of this is that it will bring back fathers to their families, where they can help by making money. This influx of fathers back in the home will help to raise smarter, and more well rounded children. This will possibly help with the future crime as well. So one piece I think we are all reading wrong, is how this will take place. Any marijuana arrest that was less than 30 grams will be automatically released, 30 to 500 are the ones that have to go before the judge. I think that this could very well cause trouble, and back up our court system. I think that overall this may cause a good deal of money in taxes, considering most of these men can’t afford an attorney if they were to need one. I don’t think the sheriff's question, “What if a person is arrested with multiple charges, one of them being marijuana. Does the entire file go?” I think the response to this question is very simple. Of course not. The mariuana charge would go. I think that in the event a person is charged with a crime, and there was also marijuana in the possession they should take off the extra time that marijuana maybe added to the sentence. I think that overall this will be a great change, and a great chance to help our society in a few places that we need it. It will be tough and exhausting for the law enforcement agencies, but they will adapt and overcome for sure. JORG002
I am thrilled to know that marijuana charges are soon to be dropped because I find most of the convictions to be trivial considering it is one of the least dangerous drugs, for the most part. I do think that just convictions solely related to marijuana should be dropped though because convictions for other crimes that were investigated because of an original smell of marijuana are in their own classification. Simple possession charges should be dropped because most are personal use possession charges. I find it sad that there are tens of thousands of cases to expunge, and that even with the hiring of expungement experts, the process will still take years to complete. Understandably, possession charges of greater amounts will have to be presented to a judge which takes even more time and expungement is not for certain. I do wonder how far back they will take the charges considering they have until 2025 to go through pre-2000 cases. I assume this will depend on the person convicted and their wellbeing. Expunging marijuana charges could also open up the possibility of lessening minor drug charges so as to not ruin people’s lives and get them the help they need to break addictions. -Gamma002
The state of Illinois has joined several other states in the United States with legalizing recreational marijuana. As a result of this legislation, the situations of purging and expunging the convictions of people convicted of certain marijuana offenses. This expungement will hopefully give people a chance at a new life. It is going to be a grueling task in order to go through all of these records. A person arrested with less than 30 grams of marijuana will have their records automatically expunged. People with higher amounts will be looked on a case by case basis. There are a lot of budget concerns that go with this. While the legalization of recreational marijuana will help decrease the amount of people incarcerated, there's also the cost of expunging the records of those already convicted. The City of Peoria and the County of Peoria have each hired one full-time employee to handle the expungements. It will cost an estimated $100,000 to go back 7 years to 2012 to review these records. The issue also arises with other crimes in relation to simple possession charges. How will the crime committed in conjunction with marijuana offenses be handled? Above all things, it is a good thing that people aren't going to be punished for the rest of their life for possibly a youthful mistake. I believe that the legislators for see that the cost of reducing the jail population will offset the cost it will take to review, examine and revisit all these records. Another problem lies with the time limits are attached to the expungements. Those are necessary in order for the state to see the benefits of expunging these records. In the meantime hopefully it will give people a chance to show that they can be productive citizens. This will not be an easy process but it is definitely a necessary process in reducing the amount of people incarcerated for marijuana offenses and those carrying a record for possession of marijuana offenses. -zen002
To start out, I like the idea of expunging people’s records for low level marijuana offences. But, this will take a lot of time and effort and it will probably be really difficult to wipe away all kinds of offences from hundreds of thousands of records. The requirements for automatic expungements are convictions for possession under 30 grams. Judicial review will occur for convictions ranging from 30 to 500 grams. The main issue with all of this that there seems to be no solid direction for this undertaking. Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower is quoted saying “We haven't been given any direction on how we do it after the first of the year.” This really isn’t a new thing since expungements have been done before, just on a case by case basis. This time, lots of cases are being reviewed at the same time which could cause confusion and taking lots of time that could be devoted to other things. Another problem is dealing with people with multiple charges, including a marijuana charge. Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell has questions regarding this new task of expungements, especially people with multiple charges. “I am an advocate of the expungement process. However we don’t know the total workload related to this,” said Asbell. To counter this, some agencies would hire a dedicated person just to sort out the se expungement orders. Peoria Police Department has had a huge influx of expungement orders in recent years. The department received 186 orders in 2019 and over 250 in 2018. The cost of this endeavor will total around $100,000 for researching the records, checking them, and disposing of the offences. The expungement searches will begin on January 1, 2020. By 2021, all records dating back to 2013 will be expunged, and by 2023, cases from the early 2000s to 2012 will be gone as well. This will be a long and lengthy process, but this should work with the smart people already getting to work on it. -OUTATIME002
ReplyDeleteI agree I think this won't be an easy thing to do, but at the same time after its all said and done, it will be rewarding. It's easy to forget that we are all people, and people make mistakes. Expunging peoples records can only benefit them, and open new doors for them. These people could have lost many opportunities because of their marijuana charges. I’m curious to see how they will deal with people with more than just a marjuana charge. If the other charges are less serious than the marijuana charge I feel like they would just drop them also. -CRJB002
DeleteI also agree with what you are saying. Expunging those cases is probably going to take a few years to do because of how many people get arrested a year and on top of that they have to go back further than 2012. It will bring back a lot of hope for people to change their life around. I know things will get technical for some cases on whether or not to free someone completely or to just take time off there sentence if they committed another crime alongside when they found the weed. Batman002
DeleteI agree with you 100% on the fact that it will be a long, tedious process to look through these records individually. It will not be easy and I believe the article said they do not know the total workload related to this and that there is currently only one full time position working on pulling up the files. In my opinion it will take so much more than just one person if we expect to do this in a timely manner. Agreeing with you again, it is an issue that there is no solid direction to go in at this point; if this is going to be our new law, which obviously it is, then there should be some sort of instructions across the board in how to handle all of this so it doesn’t become an issue later on in the process.
Delete--coffeeplease002
This will be a very tedious and time-consuming process; however, it is important that we begin the expungement process as soon as possible to finish the task and allow those affected to attempt to start over and be able to have successful lives. Though this is not a new process, this capacity of expunging records is not common and finding a starting place will be a bit difficult, but once started, I believe the task itself will become quite easy to go through. -Gamma002
DeleteI think expunging the arrest records for low level mariguana arrests is a good idea. I think giving these people a second chance is something that should be done, because people make mistakes. Someone's whole life shouldn’t be ruined because they got caught up with some weed. Having this on their record could very well ruin a lot of opportunities in the future. This push for removing marijuana charges from peoples records is in thanks to the Sheriff Asbell and the Peoria Police Department. This push came into effect after the pending legalization of marijuanna in Illinois. There are some setbacks with this idea though. The expunging of the records will only come into play if the person was arrested with less than 30 grams. Anything more than 30 grams this will have to be done through judicial review. Not only is the amount of weed one was caught with an issue, but determining what to do with other charges one may have. Sheriff Asbell said that they have hired a full time employee to handle expungements. So far there have been 2,500 cases found since 2012 that could qualify. As of right now there's only one full time employee working on it, but if it ends up being more work than anticipated they are ready to hire more. There is a time limit in which this has to be done by. Records dating back to 2013 must be finished by the beginning of 2021. Cases from 2000 to 2012 must be finished by 2023. Any case prior to 2000 must be finished by the year 2025. Money has been set aside for this process. As of right now it’s estimated to cost around $100,000 to research, check, find and then purge the records. Overall this isn’t going to be done overnight, but I think it will be very rewarding in the end, and gives people a second shot at life. -CRJB002
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying. I think we do forget that people make mistakes and they shouldn’t be punished forever because of it. Expunging these records can give many people a second chance to better themselves. I talked about the issues regarding this too. I’m curious about what they are going to do with the multiple charges. I think they will also have to hire more people to go through the hundreds of thousands case file they have. This will not be an easy thing to do. They still have a lot of work and unanswered questions to figure out beforehand, but I think when it all gets straightened out that it will be very worthwhile.-JU002
DeleteYes I totally agree with you! This expungement process will benefit so many people; like you said people make mistakes and no one should have their life ruined or made harder just because they wanted to smoke some weed. I’m curious to see what they do with the cases that involve other charges, and am curious to see how they handle cases that started with the smell of marijuana. Once they figure out the process of how to do it all in the time frame allowed I think it will be very rewarding for the state of Illinois.
Delete--coffeeplease002
I completely agree with you. I think that minor weed charges have ruined many people's lives and made it extremely hard for them to live a semi normal life. It makes it harder to find jobs, get loans, do day to day activities. I said in my response that the expungement process is completely fair to those with minor convictions. You should not have to have a record for the rest of your life because you had 3 grams when you were 17. People's lives will change for the better. Hopefully those given second chances will take advantage of this opportunity and make the best out of it. -wb002
DeletePot offense expungements is an amazing thing that need to start happening all over the world. Expungements are not something that is new, it's been happening for a while now. And expungements only happened for certain offenses. Expunging all those cases is going to take a little time but it will be worth it. So many people's lives have been destroyed for a small amount of weed. Those people who were thrown in jail for a small amount probably couldn’t find a job and if they could it was a low paying job. In the article it says that “Automatic expungements will be granted for arrests involving less than 30 grams, about one ounce. Convictions for possessing 30 to 500 grams (about a pound) will have to go before a judge, who will review each case individually.” Which I think would help out a lot of people. Because most people that are in jail for that amount of weed were either going to smoke it themselves or they were going to have a few friends over and they were going to smoke it. Expunging all those court cases is not going to be easy. Especially depending on how far back the courts want the Peoria Police Department and the Peoria County Sheriff's Office to back. Because they both have to go back further than 2012. And they only hired one person so far. The person who has that job is going to be overworked for years to come. Then they still have to decide whether or not to drop the whole case when there is weed involved i n the case or to just take some time off the whole sentence. So its going to get tricky trying to figure out what to do some cases. But overall it's going to help people get their lives back. Batman002
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you no how this will give people their lives back with these expungement polices. It's really sad to see this happen, but the past is in the past and we need to learn from it and I think this is a good first step. This clearly won't be easy and will take a long time, but this will not be impossible. I would love to see changes being done soon in terms of reform and giving those incarcerated people a second chance , but it will take a lot of time. I hope things happen soon, to keep up with social change. -OUTATIME002
DeleteI agree I think the expunging cases where small amounts of weed are involved is going to benefit so many people. I think that if this went nation wide so many more people would be given great opportunities to do good. Weed is so common now a days I don't see a point in ruining someone's future because of it. Weed literally grows from the ground, so how could a natural occuring plant destroy lives. I think that only having one person to examine all of these cases is going to be very stressful. Hiring more people to help with the expunging process with increased production, and help take some stress on the current employee. -CRJB002
DeleteI think expungement of records that involve low offense marijuana convictions is a good idea. Although this will take a lot of work and time to complete, I think it may be worth it since people do make mistakes. This article states that expungement, by theory, will give people a second chance with a clean record. We have all studied how hard it is for a former prisoner to get back on his or her feet after jail time. They have a hard time finding a job, which does not allow them to make money for housing or food. All of this could also make the person reoffended. So, I think expungement of marijuana charges is a good thing because it will allow these low level offenders to have a chance to better themselves. Although expungement have been done in the past, this will be a hard process. It has usually been on a case-by-case basis where a person petitioned a judge about a specific case or file, according to the article. There are some obstacles to this process. There is no real instruction on how to go about this. Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower stated, “We haven’t been given any direction on how we do it after the first of the year.” Another problem would be that there will be hundreds of thousands of files to go through. Asbell’s office has the funds for one employee to go through the records, and with all things considered have to hire more before the law goes into effect. This idea for expungement also raises questions about multiple charges, including a marijuana charge. Some examples from the article are, does the entire file go? Does just the reference to marijuana get eliminate? And what if the charges stemmed from a search that are begun by the smell of marijuana? All of these are good questions. This process does need some time and work put into it for it can work properly, but I think it will be worth it in the end.-JU002
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on that where you believe people do mistakes and that it is so hard for them to have more of a normal life because of their record. The example you gave was them not being able to get a job which I think is sad because some people truly want to work and earn money for their families however a stupid mistake cost them that. One small marijuana charge should not define who they are. I do believe in second chances and I think that the expunging will definitely help give more people the chances they deserve. It will take a lot of time, money, and resources but I think it will be worth it. -wags002
DeleteExpunging the records of low offense marijuana convicts is not only a great idea, but an idea that in my opinion is a big move for law enforcement. I like how they are not only willing to wipe records clean but are also willing to reduce jail time as well. This could also help improve the public image of law enforcement especially to minority groups. Everyone in our Corrections class is well aware of how long it takes for an ex convict to get a job and get back on his or her feet because of a tainted record. So for that to be able to be prevented is very good for not only the ex convict but their family as well. But that does not mean every one will get a clean slate. Only people that were arrested for 30 grams or less will be automatically expunged. If you were arrested for anything more than that you will have to stand before a judge in which he will review each case individually. One of the question marks about this process that Peoria County Sheriff Asbell produced was about workload. No one knows how long, how many employees are needed, or how much this will cost because of extra staffing. On the other hand though what we do know is the time frame in which they have to complete this. The clock starts January 1, 2020 and ends 2025 so they have a decent amount of time to get these prisoners clean. I believe this could possibly cause a public reform in not only how law enforcement is perceived, but also have an impact on drug crime as a whole.-wiseguy002
ReplyDeleteIt's really sad to see this happen, but the past is in the past and we need to learn from it and I think this is a good first step. This clearly won't be easy and will take a long time, but this will not be impossible. I’m curious about what they are going to do with the multiple charges. I think they will also have to hire more people to go through the hundreds of thousands case file they have. Expunging those cases is probably going to take a few years to do because of how many people get arrested a year and on top of that they have to go back further than 2012. SH002
DeleteI agree with you, I think this is huge, and is also a great idea. Reducing the jail time for these marijuana convicts will ultimately cost us less money, less people locked up. This will have a big impact on the lives of many. Expunging these records allows many people to try for better, it is a self-esteem booster. With these records being erased, the title being held by everyone will drop. The opportunities to better themselves will open up. I hope we can all see this being carried out. I am looking forward to see this play out.
Delete-KF002
I agree that this will be a positive step for people and law enforcement. There are a number of people that have been ineligible for certain jobs or trades based on a misdemeanor marijuana conviction. This will also free up law enforcement to battle violent crimes and tackle other aspects of law enforcement. This reduction in those incarcerated will save the tax payers money and in the long run help people become productive members of society. -zen002
DeleteA lack of resources, specifically of adequate staff, within facilities is largely what contributes to the substandard care of inmates. I like the idea of expunging people’s records for low level marijuana offences. But this will take a lot of time and effort and it will probably be really difficult to wipe away all kinds of offences from hundreds of thousands of records. giving these people a second chance is something that should be done, because people make mistakes. Someone's whole life shouldn’t be ruined because they got caught up with some weed. Having this on their record could very well ruin a lot of opportunities in the future. This push for removing marijuana charges from people’s records is in thanks to the Sheriff Asbell and the Peoria Police Department. This push came into effect after the pending legalization of marijuana in Illinois. Because most people that are in jail for that amount of weed were either going to smoke it themselves or they were going to have a few friends over and they were going to smoke it. Expunging all those court cases is not going to be easy. There are some obstacles to this process. There is no real instruction on how to go about this. Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower stated, “We haven’t been given any direction on how we do it after the first of the year.” Another problem would be that there will be hundreds of thousands of files to go through. The clock starts January 1, 2020 and ends 2025 so they have a decent amount of time to get these prisoners clean. SH002
ReplyDeleteI noticed that you stated that expungements would take place on lower level pot offenses but im curious as to what you think lower level is. It really depends on who you ask but a gallon Ziploc baggie of weed is considered a low level to some states. I think it is going to be especially hard to expunge people for weed and not pay attention to the numbers because a couple grams is a whole lot different when it's filling up the back of someone's car to the roof. Trust me, I know plenty of people who should stay in jail because of how much pot they had on them at the time of the arrest. FIRE002
DeleteI thought the article was interesting. I believe that it would bring down the population in the jails. Also I think this would be a great idea but it's going to be a long process. The reason why it's going to be a long process because they have to go over everyone's records that could be in the computer or on paper work. The disadvantages was the cost to find and drop the charges. They need to find another way so it won’t really cost that much to find and drop the charges. This is why I thought the article was really interesting to read. Softball002
DeleteThis is talking about how we are going to expunge records that deal will low level marijuana convictions. I think this is great due to the fact that it will help some people get a second chance at life without that marijuana charge attached to them forever. With the upcoming legalization on marijuana it prompted the expungement of the records to form. The ones that will be expunged right away are the ones with less that 30 grams which is the equivalent of about an ounce, those with at least 30 and up to 500 will have to go before the judge so they can review the case to see if it should be expunged or not. The thing is that it is not as simple as it sounds, it seems like there could be issues in figuring out whether certain ones should be or not. For example, if a certain person has the marijuana charges along with other charges should just the marijuana charge go away or the whole file or some other factors make it stay or go? It can cause a lot of issues for the ones where its not just a simple marijuana charge. Another issue could be the cost and the resources, it will cost a lot because of the huge amount of files one would have to go through and having to pay for someone to do that would be a lot especially if they are wanting to go as far as 2000 or earlier. There are times limits beginning on January 1st of 2020 and this will take a lot of time, money, and resources to go through so many years. Not only that, Peoria County had changed its system and this will also cause more work with the expungement due to the fact that they have to get rid of the things that linked to the record. It is a lot of work and money to do this but in the long run I think it would help a lot for those who may have made a mistake at a young age who got caught with marijuana and they are then able to get a second chance or try to help their lives be a little bit better for them. -wags002
ReplyDeleteThe manpower into going through all those records will be labor intensive. Because your talking about decades of paperwork. I believe in some cases that some people should be given a second chance. But thats only for people who were arrested on the small amount of marijuana. But the article also stated that what if one was arrested on a whole bunch of charges and a small amount of marijuana was included in that? Then what would you charge them with? Would the marijuana charge be thrown out but keep the remaining charges? I would think that the marijuana charge would be thrown out since a person already has enough on their plate. Navy002
DeleteI think that all drugs arrests that shoulld be expunged should not. Beacuase it’s a choice of
ReplyDeletewill if someone should should not choose. With marijuana being legal along with many states it made
be be legally stately not federally. I believe that people that who have experimented with weed should
not be punihed to the full extented of the law just beacusde state law saids its legal. We are now
arguing the amounts slight as little as putting them in jail? How much is that deferring our tax dollars?
We could have them set on probation for half the cost. Automatic expungments will be granted fro
arrests less then 30 grams, just let them go. If they ain’t broken windows causing a nuicence or public
trouble police need to take note and let them go. Drugs and marijuana should be differenced in the
pulblic juidicial side of things. I think If it should go beyond that let the judge decide on the crimes
committed and the extent o the law be fully committed. Up in chillicothe, they said areests were made a lot during music festivals and other programs but they couldn’t process how it it’s gonna work? The chief of police of chillicothes’ a time limit on the said he was not really assure that how they were gonna impimit it. Beacuase there is a time limit cases from the last 2000 to 2012 would be expunged to 2012 and would be finished by 2023. So by 2023 all the departments would have 2 years to expunge those of 5 years of 2000. The older ones would end up on microfilm or paper or something other. Either way each department is up to enforce the legalization on marijuana and enforce it. Some might let grams go or some might take the fedreral law and enforce. We may never know? Navy002
I think that all drugs arrests that shoulld be expunged should not. Beacuase it’s a choice of
ReplyDeletewill if someone should should not choose. With marijuana being legal along with many states it made
be be legally stately not federally. I believe that people that who have experimented with weed should
not be punihed to the full extented of the law just beacusde state law saids its legal. We are now
arguing the amounts slight as little as putting them in jail? How much is that deferring our tax dollars?
We could have them set on probation for half the cost. Automatic expungments will be granted fro
arrests less then 30 grams, just let them go. If they ain’t broken windows causing a nuicence or public
trouble police need to take note and let them go. Drugs and marijuana should be differenced in the
pulblic juidicial side of things. I think If it should go beyond that let the judge decide on the crimes
committed and the extent o the law be fully committed. Up in chillicothe, they said areests were made a lot during music festivals and other programs but they couldn’t process how it it’s gonna work? The chief of police of chillicothes’ a time limit on the said he was not really assure that how they were gonna impimit it. Beacuase there is a time limit cases from the last 2000 to 2012 would be expunged to 2012 and would be finished by 2023. So by 2023 all the departments would have 2 years to expunge those of 5 years of 2000. The older ones would end up on microfilm or paper or something other. Either way each department is up to enforce the legalization on marijuana and enforce it. Some might let grams go or some might take the fedreral law and enforce. We may never know? Navy001
I don't think it is any secret or that it would be a misguided statement to say that law enforcement in today's world, is severely outdated. During the War on Drugs, marijuana was only considered bad because it was coming from outside the country. No one cared to look into what it was or what it did to people. All they knew was that it must be bad and so they named it a drug. Thankfully, the research has finally been done into marijuana and it turns out it is completely safe for most people to consume, therefore the state of Illinois and many other states have legalized the recreational use of pot. That's when the question began on what to do with previous offenders who were charged with pot possession or use, and have it on their record for the rest of their life or are sitting in a jail cell because of it. Now, many Sheriffs offices around the state are beginning to expunge those who they know what offenses due to anything related to marijuana. The struggle is how much it costs to pay people to sit down and go through all of the arrest records and expunge any and all that have to do with the newly legalized marijuana. I support this expungement 110% because quite frankly, I don't think the offenders should've been charged for something so small and harmless in the first place. Pot simply caught a bad rep for years for no justifiable reason and next thing you know, people were getting locked up for smoking a natural grown plant. The unfortunate part about this process is that someone has to physically sort through all of this and we all know that in Peoria County, that's going to be a lot of marijuana related offenses that need to be viewed and dealt with. FIRE002
ReplyDeleteMarijuana did come from out of this country. But it all started back in the thirties when it wasn’t illegal and everyone was doing it. But when bad things started to happen thats when the governtment stepped in and made it illegal. Now that it is legal its just causing more problems. Look at Colorado, there are more people being admitted to hospitals for being high and crime is up significantly. Even more traffic incidents such as car accidents because people were stoned. Although its a good tax revenue it was a big mistake to make this drug legal. Navy002
DeleteWhile reading the first page of the article, a few questions came to mind. What will happen to those who were convicted with more than just a marijuana charge? Will the entire file be thrown out or just the marijuana charge specifically? Sherif Brian Asbel had the same concerns and made another good point as well; what if the charges stemmed from a search that begun by the smell of marijuana? These are tough questions that have not necessarily been answered yet, but I have hope that those in charge will make the right decisions for the community as well as the perpetrators. While it will be costly to examine all of the records involving marijuana offenses, approximately $100,000, in the long run it will save the state thousands and even millions of dollars. If low level offenses are expunged from records, and even have the ability to release people from jail or prison, we will no longer have to pay to house and feed those inmates; they will be left in the community to tend to their families and jobs as normal citizens without the burden of having to go away. The article claims automatic expungements will be granted to those involving less than 30 grams (one ounce) of marijuana; so many young adults, older adults, and especially juveniles could possibly have a fresh, clean start from all this. With that being said, charges that involved more than 30 grams and possessing up to 500 grams (one pound) will be brought before a judge to review the entire case file individually; I think that is a good decision because anyone possessing more than an ounce was most likely participating in selling marijuana and not just using it for personal use. I also think it’s a good thing there is a time frame on all of the expungements to be more fair for those locked away and for those awaiting trial or a court appearance. For the first time in a long time, Illinois is doing something cool with their criminal justice system and I think it will pay off in our favor.
ReplyDelete--coffeeplease002
I think that only the weed charges should be expunged, although if it stemmed from weed than those charges should stick. I understand it's not fair that if the officer smelled weed then searched your car and found 10 bags of heroin in your trunk. If weed was legal the cop wouldn't have searched your car and found the heroin but, you should not have had pounds of heroin in your car in the first place. It could fall into some type of unreasonable search and seizure, but breaking the law is breaking the law in my eyes when it comes to serious convictions like that. -wb002
DeleteArticle about “Police agencies face task of pot offense expungement” was really interesting. I think this would be a great idea but it's going to be a long process. The reason why it's going to be a long process because they have to go over everyone's records that could be in the computer or on paper work. The article is trying to say the convictions that had less than 30 grams will be have their records dropped unless they did the crime with another crime. If they had more grams over the limit then they have to go in front of the judge to see if he or she will drop the charge. According to Kravetz of Journal Star “ The city, like the county, has hired full-time employee to look over the records.” The sheriff set money on the side for an employee to look at the records to see which one could be expunged. They would have to hire someone else after the first year to look over the charges. The sheriff is for the process but as he said they don’t know what the workload would be. He would need more staffing if it is necessary. They have found 2,500 files from 2012 that could be agreed to the new law. They think it would cost $100,000 to find and drop the charges. This is the only problem because it could cost the state to have jails find and drop the charges. We need to find a way that won’t cost that much money. When the process goes through, this could lower the population of people in jails. Jails wouldn't be so crowded. The reason why I like this idea is because the crime was a nonviolent crime. This is why I thought the article was very interesting. Softball002
ReplyDeleteI think it is incredible that Peoria is moving towards expunging records involving marijuana. In theory, removing these marijuana related records will allow many people to have a fresh start. These expungements are mainly for the low-level marijuana convictions. Arrests involving less than an ounce of marijuana with qualify for automatic expungement. Someone possessing anywhere from thirty to five-hundred grams will need to go before a judge to be reviewed individually. The process of expunging these marijuana records may sound like a good idea for society, but it will be costly, time consuming, and possibly difficult to decide on stepper cases, who can qualify to be expunged. Then more specifically it will become difficult to ultimately decide what certain or complicated cases get thrown out. The city and county has moved forward in hiring full-time employees to process and decide expungements. From 2012 to current day, the department has already discovered nearly 2,500 files that may qualify to be expunged. It will come an estimated $100,000 for the total expunging process for just back to 2012. The clock work will start on January 1st, 2020. By 2023, the city aims to have cases from 2000 to 2012 finished. Hopefully by 2025 all of the departments will have all of the years before 2000 finished. With all of these expungements will will be giving so many citizens a second chance. I believe this is a big step for our community. Letting go of records for low amounts of marijuana will be good for our community. Marijuana is being used for all sorts of things now and legal in many places. With all of the changes we must find a way to match the justice. I think this is great and will help many people better their home, social, and family lives.
ReplyDelete-KF002
This article talking about expungement is very interesting to me. The fact that marijuana will be legal in the next coming months had me thinking, what would they do with the people that were convicted on related charges. It makes sense that if they were caught with less than 30 grams that the charge would be dropped from their record and that if it was near a pound they will have to go before a judge and talk to them to get more information on the conviction. Obviously weed is illegal and these people committed these crimes while it was still illegal but to me there are far worse things people could be getting arrested and charged for. Peoria county sheriff Asbell, was talking about people that had multiple charges that came along with the marijuana charge. If an officer smelled weed and searched the car and found an unregistered gun and cocaine should the case as a whole be dropped or just the possession of the marijuana. There are some grey areas with the new law and I don't think anyone can specifically say what is right and wrong. I think it is going to be something that we need to learn from and gain more experience before we get a better grasp of right and wrong. Just like Asbell, I am an advocate of the expungement process. I think that it gives many people second chances at life. People that were charged with a few grams and now have a record and find it hard to get a job will have another chance to have a better life for themselves. To me, marijuana (if used in the appropriate setting) is not bad. I would rather have people smoking weed rather than shooting up heroin and doing more harmful things to their bodies. -wb002
ReplyDeleteTo start, I find the expunging of these low offense marijuana crimes a good thing. I think that removing these folks from our jails will help to bring down the cost of the jails, and overall bring more folks back into the population to work, and provide for their families. I think the best part of this is that it will bring back fathers to their families, where they can help by making money. This influx of fathers back in the home will help to raise smarter, and more well rounded children. This will possibly help with the future crime as well. So one piece I think we are all reading wrong, is how this will take place. Any marijuana arrest that was less than 30 grams will be automatically released, 30 to 500 are the ones that have to go before the judge. I think that this could very well cause trouble, and back up our court system. I think that overall this may cause a good deal of money in taxes, considering most of these men can’t afford an attorney if they were to need one. I don’t think the sheriff's question, “What if a person is arrested with multiple charges, one of them being marijuana. Does the entire file go?” I think the response to this question is very simple. Of course not. The mariuana charge would go. I think that in the event a person is charged with a crime, and there was also marijuana in the possession they should take off the extra time that marijuana maybe added to the sentence. I think that overall this will be a great change, and a great chance to help our society in a few places that we need it. It will be tough and exhausting for the law enforcement agencies, but they will adapt and overcome for sure. JORG002
ReplyDeleteI am thrilled to know that marijuana charges are soon to be dropped because I find most of the convictions to be trivial considering it is one of the least dangerous drugs, for the most part. I do think that just convictions solely related to marijuana should be dropped though because convictions for other crimes that were investigated because of an original smell of marijuana are in their own classification. Simple possession charges should be dropped because most are personal use possession charges. I find it sad that there are tens of thousands of cases to expunge, and that even with the hiring of expungement experts, the process will still take years to complete. Understandably, possession charges of greater amounts will have to be presented to a judge which takes even more time and expungement is not for certain. I do wonder how far back they will take the charges considering they have until 2025 to go through pre-2000 cases. I assume this will depend on the person convicted and their wellbeing. Expunging marijuana charges could also open up the possibility of lessening minor drug charges so as to not ruin people’s lives and get them the help they need to break addictions. -Gamma002
ReplyDeleteThe state of Illinois has joined several other states in the United States with legalizing recreational marijuana. As a result of this legislation, the situations of purging and expunging the convictions of people convicted of certain marijuana offenses. This expungement will hopefully give people a chance at a new life. It is going to be a grueling task in order to go through all of these records. A person arrested with less than 30 grams of marijuana will have their records automatically expunged. People with higher amounts will be looked on a case by case basis. There are a lot of budget concerns that go with this. While the legalization of recreational marijuana will help decrease the amount of people incarcerated, there's also the cost of expunging the records of those already convicted. The City of Peoria and the County of Peoria have each hired one full-time employee to handle the expungements. It will cost an estimated $100,000 to go back 7 years to 2012 to review these records. The issue also arises with other crimes in relation to simple possession charges. How will the crime committed in conjunction with marijuana offenses be handled? Above all things, it is a good thing that people aren't going to be punished for the rest of their life for possibly a youthful mistake. I believe that the legislators for see that the cost of reducing the jail population will offset the cost it will take to review, examine and revisit all these records. Another problem lies with the time limits are attached to the expungements. Those are necessary in order for the state to see the benefits of expunging these records. In the meantime hopefully it will give people a chance to show that they can be productive citizens. This will not be an easy process but it is definitely a necessary process in reducing the amount of people incarcerated for marijuana offenses and those carrying a record for possession of marijuana offenses. -zen002
ReplyDelete