Please re-read my headline….
San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascon doesn’t want the history erased….
He want’s the information just available to law enforcement , not the public, AFTER a period of time….
A week after San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascon moved to wipe out thousandsof marijuana convictions dating back decades, he announced Thursday his support for a bill that would clear old arrest and conviction records for defendants statewide.
The measure is intended to open up a pathway to housing, education and new employment opportunities for millions of Californians who have been excluded because of old arrests or convictions for certain offenses still listed on their rap sheets.
“It’s a way to get people out of the paper prison they get sucked into once they have an arrest record or conviction,” Gascon said. “When you remove the ability for people to participate fully in their community — employment, housing, education, other activities — you marginalize them until they’re left with no hope.
“Without hope, they’re more likely to create crimes in that very same community, and what we’re trying to do is reduce the chance of recidivizing.”
The bill, AB 1076, introduced by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) in February, would mandate that the state Department of Justice automatically clear records of arrests that did not result in a conviction after the statute of limitations has passed, as well as convictions involving probation and jail once an offender’s sentence was completed. Anyone who has to register as a sex offender or has violated their probation would not be eligible.
Most of the records eligible involve drugs or property crimes, officials said. People who committed crimes that ended with a state prison sentence — not in a local jail — would have to go through the process that currently exists to receive a certificate of rehabilitation.
The bill would affect some 380,000 people currently incarcerated for crimes or awaiting trial and the millions more eligible going back in time, officials said. About 8 million Californians have criminal convictions on their records.
“The whole point is they paid their debt, they served their time. Once they get out they should be able to start over,” Ting said. “Once they’re out, why should they continue to suffer?”…
Image…NBCBayarea.Com