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Think Twice Before Asking Expunged Marijuana Arrest Records To Be Destroyed (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, September 30, 2020
Think Twice Before Asking Expunged Marijuana Arrest Records To Be Destroyed
By Judith Whiting, New York City Bar Association Board of Directors
We applaud automatic expungement of marijuana offenses now decriminalized [“NY Court System Rolls Out Application Procedure for Destroying Pot Arrest Records,” Sept. 18]. Destroying mugshots and fingerprints and tightly sealing court and repository records, marking them “expunged”—automatic processes the decriminalization law now mandates—makes good sense. It may be tempting to take things further and demand that court records be destroyed, but individuals should think hard before doing so. There is almost nothing to be gained by having sealed court records destroyed, and potentially a lot to lose.
