Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx says she is still on track to fulfill her promise to wipe out minor cannabis convictions in the upcoming months.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, there is still the question of how exactly her office will intend to go about executing the plan, something that Foxx herself acknowledged is still being worked out.
The Sun-Times notes that Foxx emerged with the lofty plan during a speech back in January to the City Club of Chicago. Foxx noted then that she fully supported legalizing marijuana and said that her office would “pursue the expungement of all misdemeanor marijuana convictions.”
Of course such an announcement would garner support and attention, but again, there is the matter of execution.
Foxx told the news site that her office would not try to clear out all the convictions in one go, but has hopes to roll out the first round of expungements within a few months. She also intends to tap nonprofit Code for America, which has already helped with similar expungements in California.
Code for America “can help us find some infrastructure support of being able to look at the [Cook County] clerk’s office, Dorothy Brown’s office, to be able to identify batches of people who are found or convicted of the statutory code for possession of marijuana,” she said.
Kiera Ellis, a spokesperson for Foxx, had previously stated that those who have convictions would not have to petition for their expungements individually. Foxx mentioned to the Sun-Times that she is working with state officials to see if her office can file petitions for expungement on behalf of those who have minor convictions.
“The question is, how far back can we go? How far back does the data go — which will give us what our universe looks like? But we’re in the process of figuring that out,” Foxx added.
And while keeping her eyes set on that particular prize, Foxx seems to have other plans, telling the Sun-Times that her office is also reviewing its policy surrounding the prosecution of those arrested for selling marijuana, although that review is still in its early stages.
“The next iteration of this is looking at those sales,” she said. “In light of the fact that legalization looks like it’s becoming apparent. We don’t want to be on the back end of trying to figure out what to do.”
