TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Araceli, who wishes for her last name to stay private, was charged for possession of drug paraphernalia back in 2013.
“I felt like my life was kind of like ruined, or kind of like stained,” Araceli said.
That made it hard for her to find a job, and living paycheck to paycheck suddenly became a reality.
“It would take weeks for my background to clear and then finally once they cleared, they were like well I’m sorry we can’t hire you,” she said.
That forced her to take on a second job just to make ends meet for food and utilities. Spending so much time at work also took away time she would have had with family.
However, it also made it hard for her to find an apartment, Araceli saying landlords would base her application on her record.
“They automatically assumed oh well is she going to be smoking? Is she going to be doing any criminal activity?” Araceli said.
However, she applied for an expungement of her record through a local organization for free and said it only took about half an hour. She found out her record was cleared in about a month last year.
“It definitely made me feel kind of like brand new, fresh slate,” she said.
On Tuesday, the City of Tucson voted to expunge the records of more than 10 thousand people who have city court convictions for marijuana-related charges.
Kevin Dahl, the councilman of Ward 3 said the City is partnering with the University of Arizona’s law school staff and students. Students will be researching who would be eligible and filing court paperwork.
Dahl said people will be chosen at random to get their records expunged and the City will be contacting them through mail to notify them if they are eligible. He said the City will start working on the program very soon and it will be fully staffed by U of A law students in the fall.
“It’s going to give people a second opportunity at life, just in general with being able to, like myself, pursue the dreams that were put on hold,” Araceli said about the program.
She’s hoping people with records know there are people out there who are willing to help them expunge their records for free, and she hopes they will take advantage of the City’s services.
“Just because it was in the past doesn’t mean that it has to follow you,” she said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
