Foxx quietly starts expunging 1,200 pot convictions after COVID-19 delays

As prosecutors, we need to own the role ‘the system’ has played on the failed war on drugs, causing disproportionate harm to Black and brown communities who were convicted of low-level cannabis offenses,” Foxx said.

SHARE Foxx quietly starts expunging 1,200 pot convictions after COVID-19 delays
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

Sun-Times file photo

After months of delays prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx quietly started expunging 1,200 additional cannabis convictions.

Starting Oct. 6, Foxx’s office began expunging roughly 300 minor pot convictions each week, according to spokeswoman Sarah Sinovic. Foxx’s push to wipe clean pot-related records comes as she’s locked in a contentious re-election fight with Republican Pat O’Brien, a former Cook County judge who’s outraising the incumbent.

“Felony convictions can follow people long after their time has been served and their debt has been paid,” Foxx said in a statement. “As we work to reform the criminal justice system and develop remedies to systemic barriers, I am proud that justice continues to be served in Cook County, for one, by vacating these low-level cannabis convictions to help move individuals and communities forward.”

Gov. J.B. Prtizker and fellow Democrats pushed recreational cannabis legalization as a conduit for change and a means to create diversity in the state’s cannabis industry, which is overwhelmingly controlled by white-owned firms. But the implementation of the watershed legislation, including the provisions to expunge convictions for possessing 30 grams or less, has largely been put on hold amid the coronavirus shutdowns.

Foxx previously motioned last year to vacate just over 1,000 similar convictions. Now, her office is clearing additional cannabis convictions that stretch from Jan. 1, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2019, the day before recreational weed was legalized.

Individuals with eligible convictions don’t have to take any action to set the process in motion and will simply receive a notice from the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County saying their record has been cleared.

Peter Contos, who hosts expungement events as the advocacy coordinator of the Cannabis Equity Illinois Coalition, lauded Foxx’s latest effort as he raised other concerns about how the process is playing out in Cook County.

Contos noted that individuals currently petitioning for expungment are facing lengthy wait times because there aren’t enough judges to review cases. Contos added that the clerk’s office has also failed to provide resources for the public to track those cases, which he said “has a considerable impact on someone’s belief in the process.”

“Frankly, for the second-largest county in the country, it’s unacceptable that we don’t have transparency and we don’t have a more expedient process,” he said.

Despite those issues, the state’s attorney’s office “will continue to vacate cannabis convictions through the end of the year and then plans to continue into next year by vacating convictions that occurred between 2000 and 2012,” according to a statement.

Those plans for next year ultimately hinge on Foxx besting O’Brien, a former prosecutor who has campaigned on a law-and-order platform that counters her social justice agenda. His spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Foxx continued to tout the expungement program as a tool for reform.

As prosecutors, we need to own the role ‘the system’ has played on the failed war on drugs, causing disproportionate harm to Black and brown communities who were convicted of low-level cannabis offenses.”

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