Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions • Hacker News Board

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#141

Post by derefr » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 9:16 PM UTC

bilbo0s wrote: post #130

clairity wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 'Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense.' yes, people do take that mental shortcut from time to time, but it's because the legal system is supposed to reflect our collective moral code. when it doesn't, we should fix the legal code to match. but listening to the kavanaugh hearing yesterday, it looks like t…

> but the appalling part is that no one--especially not politicians--is discussing partisanship as a legitimate reason for disqualification... In fairness, in the modern era, partisanship has been a requirement to be on the Court. Every justice on the court is either liberal or conservative. They would not have been nominated otherwise. Don't misunderstand me, I agree that maybe partisanship shouldn't be a requiremen…

Oddly, the same exact process applies for commissioning new judges as applies for commissioning new military officers (either President or Senate subcommittee nominates, the other can veto), but you don't hear about there being any requirement of partisanship for military officers.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#142

Post by DrHuman » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 11:12 PM UTC

lovich wrote: post #125

DrHuman wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person with some criminal convictions in my past due to substance abuse, but now ready to reenter the workforce, this mentality terrifies me. What is going to happen if I am not deemed "rehabilitated"? It reminds me of a quote that has stuck with me from an unrelated article: >Capitalism doesn’t just determine our source of income but how we relate to each other, our surroundings, and ourselves. To be rendered s…

In all honesty, I don't know of a single employer who cares if you were rehabilitated or not. They see a checkbox and filter it out. Your best bet is to move to a state with "ban the box" type legislation that prevents them from asking about criminal history until they've sent an offer. Those laws usually set up a regime around criminal history checks as well, that require companies to spend a decent chunk of change…

Thank you for the advice. This is exactly one of the reasons I just moved to Washington to look for work. The state supposedly just implemented strong ban the box laws in June.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#143

Post by clairity » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 11:36 PM UTC

bilbo0s wrote: post #130

clairity wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 'Too many equate "legal" with "moral" and defer to the authority of the state when it labels someone officially as a "criminal," no matter the offense.' yes, people do take that mental shortcut from time to time, but it's because the legal system is supposed to reflect our collective moral code. when it doesn't, we should fix the legal code to match. but listening to the kavanaugh hearing yesterday, it looks like t…

> but the appalling part is that no one--especially not politicians--is discussing partisanship as a legitimate reason for disqualification... In fairness, in the modern era, partisanship has been a requirement to be on the Court. Every justice on the court is either liberal or conservative. They would not have been nominated otherwise. Don't misunderstand me, I agree that maybe partisanship shouldn't be a requiremen…

sure, partisanship goes into choosing the nominee, but in the past, the nominee’s politics was inferred from their rulings and other written works. but kavanaugh crossed a line into direct partisan bickering that’s unbecoming of a justice.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#144

Post by Sohcahtoa82 » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 12:48 AM UTC

stevehawk wrote: post #102

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's why I just drink cider now. Hard to find quality ones, but when I do they don't involve getting punched in the face with hops.

I live in a tiny town with a surprisingly popular brewery with ~8-10 beers on tap. IPAs. Every. Damn. One. Of. Them. And my local beer shop switched distributors so now I can't get my preferred beer (Prairie Bomb!).

[dead]

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#145

Post by enedil » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 10:18 AM UTC

gdfasfklshg4 wrote: post #22

enedil wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that really worse for people who were omitted by this legislature that this legislature passed? Because I can't see any change.

Yes it is. Before when a potential employer saw a cannabis conviction on a criminal records check they would have potentially ignored it because it is no longer a crime. Now they will think that all the previous convictions that should have been struck off have been struck off and any that show will be treated as having had enough merit to have been deliberately missed out.

Well, then he's dumb, because he should at least acknowledge that the conviction date is from before 1996, so who knows what happened?

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#146

Post by orasis » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 10:57 AM UTC

Bjartr wrote: post #98

orasis wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m just commenting on the “bad people” part, but at 40 years old I’ve seen enough people remain completely stuck in their dysfunctional patterns to have very little faith in rehabilitation.

I see people say things like this, but I don't understand it. Why is the subject so obviously at fault and not the process? At 30 years old it all just sounds more like "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!" than anything more sincere.

If a person can’t be helped by their close friends and family, why would one expect a monolithic system to do any better?

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#147

Post by iovrthoughtthis » Sun, Sep 30, 2018, 5:19 AM UTC

romanovcode wrote: post #55

iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people change. Who you were last year is not who you are now.

And because of that you should not judge me? This is fucking ridiculous.

You make the common mistake of disregarding time during this discussion. This is interesting and part of the reason why I think we as humans are still developing our concepts of time.

We still talk about people in absolutes, as if the labels we assign someone today are still relevant tomorrow.

Perhaps previous you should have been judged for your poor decisions. I don’t know.

Later you does not deserve to be beholden to those judgements though. People change.

Labeling someone something for life is a poor heuristic, probably more relevant when we died around 20, not now we live 4 of those short lives in one of our long lives.

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#148

Post by Bjartr » Mon, Oct 01, 2018, 3:01 PM UTC

orasis wrote: post #146

Bjartr wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see people say things like this, but I don't understand it. Why is the subject so obviously at fault and not the process? At 30 years old it all just sounds more like "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!" than anything more sincere.

If a person can’t be helped by their close friends and family, why would one expect a monolithic system to do any better?

> close friends and family

First, not everyone has close friends and family. Second, dysfunctional families and bad friends are absolutely a thing and can even be the cause of problems.

Friends and family can be an important part of rehabilitation, there's no doubt in that, but I don't see a reason to abandon people just because those have failed them, if they even had them available to rely on at all.

> why would one expect a monolithic system to do any better?

Because such systems have the resources available to hire and manage trained professionals. What in particular do you think makes a monolithic system unsuitable for solving the problem of effective rehabilitation?

Re: Seattle judges throw out 15 years of marijuana convictions

#149

Post by therealdrag0 » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 1:46 AM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #70

"542 people could have their convictions dismissed by mid-November" That's not the number I was expecting when I saw the headline. That's 36 people a year, in a city the size of Seattle. I was expecting it to be thousands if not more. Maybe shows that not very many people are ever convicted for simple possession alone. It's usually an additional charge along with dealing, violence, or both.

A lot of people are arrested for pot (nation wide) but very few are held.