Those convicted of possession of marijuana up to one ounce, use, or consumption of the drug prior to Delaware's decriminalization efforts in 2015 will now be provided mandatory expungement eligibility, through a new law signed by Gov. John Carney Wednesday in Wilmington.
The bill was a bipartisan effort introduced by Delaware Senate Minority Whip Greg Lavelle (R-Sharpley) and House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst (D-Bear), passing in both the House and the Senate unanimously earlier this year.
"We've done a lot of expungement in other criminal justice reforms in the last few years, so it made sense to me that we make an effort to expunge those records because if you got arrested today, well, you'd get a traffic ticket," Lavelle told WDEL."To me, it's an issue of fairness, it's an issue of equity."
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