Illinois Residents with Marijuana Convictions Face Long Delays in Expunging and Sealing Records
For many Illinois residents, the state’s legalization of recreational marijuana use and possession has brought a sense of relief and a second chance. However, the process of expunging and sealing past marijuana-related convictions has been slow and arduous for many.
Roosevelt Myles, who spent 28 years in prison for murder before his conviction was vacated and he was granted a certificate of innocence, is one example. Myles successfully petitioned to have his marijuana record sealed and his wrongful murder conviction expunged last fall, but the process took five years.
Statewide data suggests that many others are facing similar delays. According to the Paper Prisons Initiative, a legal research group, an estimated 2.2 million people in Illinois were eligible for expungement or record sealing in 2021, but only about 10 percent had filed petitions.
Legal experts attribute this disparity to a combination of factors, including a lack of awareness, fear of the legal system, filing costs, and long wait times. The “second chance gap” is a term used to describe this disparity, and it is expected to narrow with the implementation of the Clean Slate Act, signed into law earlier this year.
The Clean Slate Act will automatically seal nonviolent criminal records for over 1.7 million adults beginning in 2029. However, some lawmakers have raised concerns that automatic sealing will limit access to information for families and employers, particularly in cases involving financial exploitation of the elderly.
Despite the challenges, legal experts are hopeful that the Clean Slate Act will help streamline the process and mitigate the record-clearing backlog. However, for many individuals like Myles and Vincent Bolton, who are still awaiting answers, tangible relief remains elusive.
Bolton, who has spent years trying to move past a series of marijuana-related arrests, said he has yet to receive official confirmation that his record has been cleared, nearly a year after a judge granted orders to expunge and seal his cannabis cases.
“This prolonged uncertainty has taken an emotional toll,” Bolton said. “At the time of doing the process, you feel like you accomplished something, but when you don’t start hearing back, it kind of just dims your light a little bit.”
The federal government’s recent move to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug is expected to expand research and formally acknowledge its accepted medical use and lower risk of abuse.
