February 12, 2025
According to Missouri, the state courts have successfully expunged more than 140,000 marijuana-related cases. This process is due to the 2022 constitutional amendment approved by the state’s voters.
Identifying cases eligible for expungement under the 2022 Constitutional Amendment has proven challenging. For example, the original deadlines have long since expired before the courts could expunge all of the marijuana-related records. However, state officials recently announced that the process is finally nearing the end.
According to the 2022 Constitutional Amendment, state courts had to identify convictions for possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana. After determining the record’s expungement eligibility, the courts then expunged the information. Expungement makes them inaccessible to employers and housing providers.
These requirements expected courts to complete expungements for eligible misdemeanor offenses by June 2023. It also required courts to expunge eligible felony offenses by December 2023. However, court workers have struggled to identify and process these expungements long after the deadlines.
The complications arise primarily from the sheer bulk of files the courts must shift through. According to the situation, most records remain on paper and have not yet moved to digital filing. The first marijuana-related statutes emerged in Missouri in 1971, and further filing remained on paper into 2014. Court clerks must sort through these files and determine which qualify for expungement. This process requires reading the summaries for every available record.
Due to the sheer scope of this task, state legislators set aside $4.5 million in additional funding for assistant court clerks. This funding would help afford overtime and additional temporary workers. Another $2.5 million in a supplemental budget followed this initial funding to help further accelerate the work. However, the skills necessary for sorting through the records limited the overtime hours that existing employers could work. It also significantly impacted the scope of work needed to expunge the marijuana-related cases.
According to an estimate from the Missouri Supreme Court, state court clerks have reviewed approximately 307,000 marijuana-related cases. As such, Missouri’s largest counties have indicated that the job is almost complete. Some counties mentioned that additional cases may arise as defendants finish probation. However, with most historical cases reviewed, they do not expect an unmanageable influx of expungements.
Employers should review their background screening processes as courts continue expunging marijuana-related records. Such assurance ensures they do not unintentionally discriminate against a capable candidate. One means of ensuring accurate and timely background checks is working with a trusted background screening provider.