The move, which comes years after California voters legalized weed, reverses decades of drug enforcement that disproportionately targeted people of color — who then faced barriers in finding housing and jobs and enrolling in school.
Illinois’ governor granted more than 11,000 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions, describing the step as a first wave of thousands of such expungements.
“I am proud to sign one of the most progressive expungement laws in the nation, which will allow more New Jerseyans the opportunity to fully engage in our society,” Murphy said.
“When someone cannot get their foot in the door to compete for a job, it is bad for business and bad for communities that need access to economic opportunity,” said JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
Eight major banks have announced their commitment to ending their support of the immigration detention center and private prison industry.
The legislation is being hailed as a major victory for criminal justice reform because it removes the profit motive from incarceration.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has argued the country should decriminalize all drugs in order to take power away from the cartels and criminal gangs.
This decision was announced in the wake of a petition directed at PNC circulating from the Families Belong Together coalition of over 250 activist groups, representing over 11 million people.
Taking an extraordinary stand against the nation’s two largest private prison companies, GEO Group and CoreCivic, Denver City Council voted not to renew contracts with them worth a cumulative $10.6 million.
Barclays Plc will stop providing future financing to companies that manage private prisons and immigration holding facilities, joining other major lenders in shunning the industry.
