Expungement process for Marijuana Convictions and pending charges under the proposed new law

Submitted by New Jersey Drug Crime Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark.

The new legislation along with an accompanying bill seeks to remedy that by:

• Dismissing all pending marijuana charges and convictions for amounts up to five pounds;
• Returning the right to vote to those who are on parole or probation as the result of a conviction for a low-level marijuana crime;
• Expanding expungement eligibility for past convictions that involved marijuana in an amount up to five pounds;
• Creating an “expedited” process for individuals to more easily submit their petitions for expungement to the state Superior Court;
• Creating a “virtual expungement” that would remove obstacles for clearing past offenses by prohibiting employers, licensing boards, and other institutions from considering past marijuana convictions (to prevent discrimination in mortgage lending, housing and public accommodations);
• Instituting “clean slate” expungement — meaning those who have maintained a record free of any kind of offense for at least 10 years could apply to have their past marijuana charges erased;
• Putting much of the responsibility for collecting the requisite expungement-related forms from multiple law enforcement agencies and departments on the Superior Court and justice agencies rather than on the petitioner;
• Removing the standard $75 expungement fee for marijuana-related applications.