Computer Algorithm Helps Over 8,000 Marijuana Convictions in San Francisco

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The District Attorney's Office in San Francisco announced Monday that 8,132 convictions would be canceled through a computer algorithm that automatically analyzed court records.

"This makes San Francisco the first county in the country to have completed the automated process for approving marijuana data," said a statement from the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, George Gascón.

The prosecutor's office is associated with Code For America – a non-profit corporation using technology to improve government – to develop the computer program to identify cases eligible for dismissal since California passed a law in 2016 authorizing the recreational use of marijuana.

Since the adoption of this law, Proposition 64, people whose past crimes would no longer be sanctioned in the same way could ask for their convictions to be nullified or reduced from a crime to a misdemeanor. But it was up to the individual to seize the court himself, a process that could be both time consuming and expensive. In 2018, only 23 people in San Francisco filed petitions, according to Gascón.

Gascón announced last year that his office would proactively review cases to determine eligibility. In May, Code For America teamed up to launch the algorithm development process.

Although it would have taken a long time to sift through thousands of court records, the development of the algorithm has reduced the process to a few minutes.

"By using technology, we have been able to proactively bring greater racial equity to the legalization of marijuana in California," Gascón said in a press release on Monday.

"I'm delighted to see that other counties and states are doing the same by offering similar relief in their communities.It's the right thing to do."

Deleted cases will help people find employment and will be approved for housing and other opportunities that may be denied because of their criminal record.

"If you are the mother or father who wants to participate in children's school activities and is told that you can not go to this educational outing because you have a crime conviction because you sold a bag Nickel in the net 10 years ago there are people we care about, "said Gascón.

"This partnership also helps to remedy the damage caused by the failure of the war on drugs, felt more strongly by communities of color." the press release added. "In San Francisco, about 33% of all rejected convictions involved African Americans and 27% of Latinxes."

The cases will now be sent to the courts for removal and sealing.

Last year, Gascon decided to retroactively apply Proposition 64 to cases of crimes and misdemeanors dating back to 1975. Cases prior to 1975 may still be filed by the prosecutor, but the accused in these cases must contact the prosecutor's office to conduct a review.

Code for America hopes that this pilot program will be taken over by other cities and counties in order to eliminate the eligible convictions.

"Contact with the criminal justice system should not be a life sentence, so we have tried to reinvent the record-keeping process," said Jennifer Pahlka, Founder and Executive Director of Code for America, in a statement. . is both innovative and commonsense, changes the scale and speed of justice and can potentially trigger change across the country. "

Gascón did mention that his office was not able to inform all the people who will see their case dismissed.

"We hope that those who understand that they can be subject to this can then call us and tell us:" Hey, is my belief cleared? "

If a member of the public feels that his marijuana conviction should be canceled or reclassified by the prosecutor's office, he can contact him by phone at 415-553-1751 or by e-mail at the address sfda.prop64relief@sfgov. org.

Blair Johnson and Steve Almasy of CNN contributed to this report.

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