Sec. 10. Resentencing and expungement

770 words·~4 min read·/bill/117/hr/3617/rh/section-10

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Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, each Federal district shall conduct a comprehensive review and issue an order expunging each conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency for a non-violent Federal cannabis offense entered by each Federal court in the district before the date of enactment of this Act and on or after May 1, 1971. Each Federal court shall also issue an order expunging any arrests associated with each expunged conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency.

To the extent practicable, each Federal district shall notify each individual whose arrest, conviction, or adjudication of delinquency has been expunged pursuant to this subsection that their arrest, conviction, or adjudication of juvenile delinquency has been expunged, and the effect of such expungement. At any point after the date of enactment of this Act, any individual with a prior conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency for a non-violent Federal cannabis offense, who is not under a criminal justice sentence, may file a motion for expungement.

If the expungement of such a conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency is required pursuant to this Act, the court shall expunge the conviction or adjudication, and any associated arrests. If the individual is indigent, counsel shall be appointed to represent the individual in any proceedings under this subsection. The court shall seal all records related to a conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency that has been expunged under this subsection. Such records may only be made available by further order of the court.

For any individual who is under a criminal justice sentence for a non-violent Federal cannabis offense, the court that imposed the sentence shall, on motion of the individual, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, the attorney for the Government, or the court, conduct a sentencing review hearing. If the individual is indigent, counsel shall be appointed to represent the individual in any sentencing review proceedings under this subsection. After a sentencing hearing under paragraph (1), a court shall— expunge each conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency for a non-violent Federal cannabis offense entered by the court before the date of enactment of this Act, and any associated arrest; vacate the existing sentence or disposition of juvenile delinquency and, if applicable, impose any remaining sentence or disposition of juvenile delinquency on the individual as if this Act, and the amendments made by this Act, were in effect at the time the offense was committed; and order that all records related to a conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency that has been expunged or a sentence or disposition of juvenile delinquency that has been vacated under this Act be sealed and only be made available by further order of the court.

An individual who has had an arrest, a conviction, or juvenile delinquency adjudication expunged under this section— may treat the arrest, conviction, or adjudication as if it never occurred; and shall be immune from any civil or criminal penalties related to perjury, false swearing, or false statements, for a failure to disclose such arrest, conviction, or adjudication. An individual who at sentencing received an aggravating role adjustment pursuant to United States Sentencing Guideline 3B1.1(a) in relation to a Federal cannabis offense conviction shall not be eligible for expungement of that Federal cannabis offense conviction under this section.

In this section: The term Federal cannabis offense means an offense that is no longer punishable pursuant to this Act or the amendments made under this Act. The term expunge means, with respect to an arrest, a conviction, or a juvenile delinquency adjudication, the removal of the record of such arrest, conviction, or adjudication from each official index or public record. The term under a criminal justice sentence means, with respect to an individual, that the individual is serving a term of probation, parole, supervised release, imprisonment, official detention, pre-release custody, or work release, pursuant to a sentence or disposition of juvenile delinquency imposed on or after the effective date of the Controlled Substances Act (May 1, 1971).

The Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall conduct a demographic study of individuals convicted of a Federal cannabis offense. Such study shall include information about the age, race, ethnicity, sex, and gender identity of those individuals, the type of community such users dwell in, and such other demographic information as the Comptroller General determines should be included. Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall report to Congress the results of the study conducted under subsection (f).