We’d Go Well Together: A Critical Race Analysis of Marijuana Legalization and Expungement in the United States

Clearing cannabis criminal records: A survey of criminal record expungement availability and accessibility among US States and Washington DC that decriminalized or legalized cannabis

“…Petition systems increase administrative burdens, and as a result navigating them may require record holders to secure legal assistance, further increasing costs and limiting relief for people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged due to their convictions ( Heinrich, 2016 ;Murray, 2021 ). Cannabis laws have imposed disproportionate criminal burdens on minorities, making accessible expungement important to improving racial equity outcomes as cannabis legalization expands ( Crawford, 2021 ). Limited knowledge of expungement, the education needed to navigate petition systems, stress incurred during the process, the requirement to wait a specific period before seeking relief, and the payment of fees likely contributes to limited use of petition-based expungement ( Berman, 2018 ;Moynihan et al, 2015 ).…”

Maximizing social equity as a pillar of public administration: An examination of cannabis dispensary licensing in Pennsylvania

“…Though social equity continues to fall short in many state‐legal cannabis programs, more is needed to value diversity in cannabis license applications to counteract the damage of the war on drugs. (Crawford, 2021). Thus, cannabis policy is a domain where public administrators, and scholars, can consider how to weigh of competing goals.…”

“…Moving forward there are ample diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts that cannabis policies should consider, including broadening the definition of equity both in policy design (including decision‐making), equitable access to dispensaries, and expungements (Crawford, 2021; Title, 2021). The medical marijuana rollout in Pennsylvania has been heavily critiqued on its opacity regarding who was on the committee and involved in decision‐making to review and score applications, though it is noted that all members were current and former middle managers (McKelvey, 2019).…”

Lost Boys, Invisible Men: Racialized Policy Feedback after Marijuana Legalization

“…Whether it is stigma, mistrust, legal estrangement or cynicism, or alienation, one or more factors may lead Black to avoid public systems (Brayne 2014;Bell 2017). This may help explain low uptake of criminal record expungement in the United States (Prescott and Starr 2019;Crawford 2019;Chien 2020) Future research must assess the extent to which African American take-up efforts to clear their criminal record of a marijuana offense, and whether there are any psychological burdens (e.g., alienation; estrangement) that are a significant barrier to participating in the program. Justice-involved individuals are a highly vulnerable group in this regard.…”