President Biden has issued thousands of federal marijuana pardons. Now, he says these charges should also be expunged.
President Biden speaking at a campaign event in Philadelphia on May 29.
In October 2022, President Joe Biden announced a sweeping pardon for all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. The pardon applied to thousands of individuals convicted on federal charges since 1992. Following the initial pardons, over a year later the administration expanded the scope of marijuana-related clemency efforts to include thousands of additional charges.
Now, President Biden says that these charges should also be expunged.
“I’m keeping my promises that no one should be in jail merely for using or possessing marijuana”, said President Biden at an even in Philadelphia. “I pardoned thousands of people incarcerated for the mere possession of marijuana, thousands. A promise made and a promise kept. And their records should be expunged as well, I might add.”
Under the law, a pardon is an act of forgiveness granted by the government (usually by a president or governor) to a person convicted of a crime. A pardon does not erase the conviction from the person’s criminal record; it merely forgives the offense and can restore certain rights, such as the right to vote or own firearms. However, the conviction itself remains on the record.
With an expungement, a conviction is removed from a person’s criminal record. Once a record is expunged, the person can legally deny that the conviction ever occurred in most circumstances.
Before yesterday’s comments, President Biden repeatedly and incorrectly stated that his marijuana pardons included expungement of records.
