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Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

bbc.com

1–10 of 149 posts

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#4
post #2

What about the people who were convicted 15 years and 1 month ago? Or 16 years? Or 20 years? Feels pretty arbitrary.

The article leaves it out, but I found ought that in 2003, Washington state passed legislature stating marijuana convictions were the lowest priority crimes. I believe thats why the cut off is 15 years, to mark when the societal law and understanding changed.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#5
post #2

What about the people who were convicted 15 years and 1 month ago? Or 16 years? Or 20 years? Feels pretty arbitrary.

> Judges in Seattle have decided to quash convictions for marijuana possession for anyone prosecuted in the city between 1996 and 2010. Possession of marijuana became legal in the state of Washington in 2012.

Another question is why didn't they quash convictions between 1996 and present, or between 1996 and 2012 when it became legal? Such obvious questions that aren't addressed by the article -- and this is the BBC no less.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#7
post #2

What about the people who were convicted 15 years and 1 month ago? Or 16 years? Or 20 years? Feels pretty arbitrary.

> Judges in Seattle have decided to quash convictions for marijuana possession for anyone prosecuted in the city between 1996 and 2010. Possession of marijuana became legal in the state of Washington in 2012. Another question is why didn't they quash convictions between 1996 and present, or between 1996 and 2012 when it became legal? Such obvious questions that aren't addressed by the article -- and this is the BBC n…

Why leave out 2011-(mid)2012?

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#8
post #3
post #2

What about the people who were convicted 15 years and 1 month ago? Or 16 years? Or 20 years? Feels pretty arbitrary.

You gotta start small and iterate. Going for world peace with the first step isn't going to work.

This is terrible news for those that didn't get included. The public will miss the details and think that everyone was included. Anyone with a conviction outside this arbitrary time period will be assumed to have some extenuating circumstances that meant that their conviction was upheld.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Judges in Seattle have decided to quash convictions for marijuana possession for anyone prosecuted in the city between 1996 and 2010. Possession of marijuana became legal in the state of Washington in 2012. Another question is why didn't they quash convictions between 1996 and present, or between 1996 and 2012 when it became legal? Such obvious questions that aren't addressed by the article -- and this is the BBC n…

Why leave out 2011-(mid)2012?

Supposedly because they had a policy that caused them to throw out all cases in the meantime, like it is done now in some jurisdictions.
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