A law that passed in 2018 allowed criminal records related to cannabis charges to be expunged, but it appears it’s not being utilized in most cases. Of the tens of thousands of criminal records that could be expunged, data show only about 2,000 cases have been addressed and only 352 have been approved for expungement.

“Our expungement statute has been an utter failure,” said Katy Naples-Mitchell, an attorney at Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice who specializes in criminal justice policies. “We could be helping people on a much grander scale, but instead we’re seeing this paltry, piecemeal effort — and even that has been almost totally frustrated, in part by a bench that is often a lot less progressive than the legislation it’s charged with carrying out.”

Carly Wolf, state policies manager at NORML, told Cannabis News Box this is actually a common problem with these kinds of expungement laws.

“With these petitions, it puts the burden on the individual to request an expungement, which could become extremely costly due to court fees and hiring a lawyer to help navigate the complicated process,” Wolf said. “Many people are not even aware that they are eligible for these expungements in the first place.”

Wolf said there needs to be a change to how these kinds of expungement laws work. Instead of making it so individuals have to request expungement, she said it would be better if records were automatically expunged once a law like this passes.

“The burden should be on the courts and/or law enforcement to proactively review these cases and automatically wipe records clean. Expunging records related to nonviolent marijuana offenses is crucial, especially in areas where such offenses have since been legalized, as hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer the collateral consequences of having a marijuana conviction on their record,” Wolf said. “This includes but is not limited to the inability for those with convictions to obtain employment, housing, financial aid for higher education, and more.”

Lawmakers around the country who support legalization and criminal justice reforms have proposed changing the system to make expungements automatic, but changes to these kinds of laws have not been moving quickly. Criminal justice reform advocates say making these kinds of changes would have a major impact on the lives of countless Americans, and they say it’s the right thing to do.