October 19, 2015 - 15:21
This is a short opinion article about a judge in Brooklyn who expunged the criminal record of a woman who was convicted for a minor offense and is not finding it difficult to hold down a job. My thought was, what makes this woman in particular so special, and what made this judge expunge this record? As a judge in Brooklyn he probably deals with cases of minor drug charges constantly, and those people have been labelled "felons" in the same way and are denied access to jobs, housing, etc. We live in a world where drug abuse is treated as a reflection on the moral character of the abuser rather than a disease. Even if this does set a precedent for judges to begin doing this, it's pretty clear which people who have committed which crimes will be pardoned this way.
Also note backlash against this judge by justice department; it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.