With the NYPD planning to stop arresting as many people for smoking marijuana, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is looking at how to help those already convicted.
Gonzalez revealed his plans during a press conference Tuesday, where Mayor Bill de Blasio and the police commissioner announced their new enforcement policy.
"I need to think about the people who have already received convictions on their record based on these cases that we’re no longer going to prosecute," he said. "We all know that having a conviction can seriously impede the ability to get a job, education, housing and other important services."
Several members of the small audience at the Thomas Jefferson public housing complex in East Harlem applauded as Gonzalez said he would announce a new program for sealing thousands of old Brooklyn convictions, so the public wouldn't have access to them.
Gonzalez didn't give any details. Sealing so many records could involve having people come to the office, or asking them to go online to fill out a form. The DA said he's working with the mayor's office to develop a plan, which also needs cooperation from the courts.
"Look, there is a burden of the past here," Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday. "A lot of people were treated unfairly, and they’re living with the consequences and we want to find ways to address that."
There is a precedent for DA's cooperating to vacate old offenses. Last year, the city's five district attorneys purged 645,000 old warrants for various civil offenses on the same day.
A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said his office is also having conversations about sealing marijuana records. He added that Vance supports expunging marijuana convictions. That goes even further than sealing a record, because it would no longer be visible even to law enforcement. But this move requires state legislation. A law enacted last year allows people to apply to have their records sealed but only if they're a decade old, and there are other constraints.
And the Bronx DA released a statement later in the day: “We would consider a uniform effort to address the sealing of convictions for marijuana possession, including an initiative by the state legislature, to ensure fairness for all New York City residents," said a statement from the spokesman to Darcel D. Clark. "We agree that sealing statutes have value and have vigorously encouraged the community to take advantage of changes in existing law."
Melissa Moore, deputy state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports legalizing marijuana, said more district attorneys should follow Gonzalez's lead.
"We’re independently pushing district attorneys to take action immediately," she said. "This is a remedy that is available immediately. It does not need to go through Albany. We’re a little confused about what the delay is as there's broad recognition of the collateral consequences."
With reporting by Zoe Azulay