Los Angeles to dismiss 66,000 marijuana convictions
Los Angeles moved this week to dismiss nearly 66,000 marijuana convictions, years after the state voted to legalize the drug.
17 Feb 2020Los Angeles moved this week to dismiss nearly 66,000 marijuana convictions, years after the state voted to legalize the drug.
The county is working with a not-for-profit technology organization, Code for America, to use algorithms to identify eligible cases within decades-old court documents.
California voters approved eliminating some pot-related crimes and wiping out past criminal convictions or reducing felonies to misdemeanors when they legalized marijuana in 2016. Photograph: Richard Vogel/AP
“The dismissal of tens of thousands of old cannabis-related convictions in Los Angeles county will bring much-needed relief to communities of color that disproportionately suffered the unjust consequences of our nation’s drug laws,” said Jackie Lacey, the LA district attorney, in a statement on Thursday.
Prosecutors this week asked a superior court judge to dismiss 62,000 felony cannabis convictions for cases that date back to 1961. The district attorney’s office also sought the dismissal of approximately 4,000 misdemeanor cannabis possession cases.
Of those getting relief under the plan, approximately 32% are African American, 20% are white, 45% are Latino, and 3% are other or unknown, officials said.
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