Even though marijuana is legal in Illinois, clearing old criminal records still a challenge

The photo shows a close-up of marijuana buds before they leaf out. (Capitol News Illinois/Andrew Campbell)

CHICAGO — For Illinoisan Roosevelt Myles, a marijuana conviction from the 1980s became part of a criminal record that’s followed him for decades.

Myles spent 28 years in prison for murder before a judge vacated his conviction on appeal and granted him a certificate of innocence, finding that no physical evidence linked him to the killing.

By the time Myles was released from prison in 2020, Illinois’ legal landscape regarding marijuana had shifted dramatically. The state legalized adult recreational use and possession of small amounts of marijuana under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act and created pathways for people to clear certain cannabis-related offenses from their records.

Myles was among those who benefited from the state’s reforms, which were designed, in part, to address the harm caused to some by the war on drugs. Last fall, with the help of attorneys at New Leaf Illinois, an online portal that helps people clear their marijuana records, he successfully petitioned to have his marijuana record sealed and his wrongful murder conviction expunged.

Months earlier, Myles had been denied a job working with children because of his criminal record, making the court’s decision feel like a turning point after what he described as hitting “rock bottom.”

“It was a great feeling,” Myles said of the expungement that took five years to happen.

Statewide data, however, suggest that most people don’t follow through. According to the Paper Prisons Initiative, a legal research group, an estimated 2.2 million people in Illinois were eligible for expungement or record sealing in 2021, but only about 10% had filed petitions.

Legal experts refer to this disparity as the “second chance gap,” and they attribute it to a combination of factors, including a lack of awareness, fear of the legal system, filing costs and long wait times. However, they say this gap may narrow as Illinois prepares to implement the Clean Slate Act, signed into law earlier this year, which will automatically seal nonviolent criminal records for over 1.7 million adults beginning in 2029.

Not all lawmakers supported the measure. Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, raised concerns that automatic sealing would limit access to information for families and employers, particularly in cases involving financial exploitation of the elderly.

“The family member who’s hiring to look after their loved one is shielded from that information,” McClure said.

Barbara Bertini, director of pro bono and community partnerships at Legal Aid Chicago, said under the current system, it can take up to a year for a sealing or expungement petition to be granted once it is filed.

But as Myles’ experience shows, the process doesn’t end once a judge signs an order. Although his sealing was granted in October 2025, Myles said recently he has yet to receive any documents from the Illinois State Police confirming that his record has been updated.

According to Illinois Legal Aid, the State Police and other law enforcement agencies have 60 days from the date they receive a court order to comply. For many it can take much longer.

The State Police are responsible for updating the central criminal history database and sending a confirmation letter once a record has been expunged or sealed. Until that happens, the record may still appear in background checks.

“The day you get convicted, it’s on your record. They got it in, they put it in the database, and everything. So what’s so hard about them taking it off?” Myles said. “It’s sad … you’re still fighting for something, and you have no control over it.”

An emotional toll

Others navigating the expungement and sealing process report similar delays. Vincent Bolton, who grew up on Chicago’s west side, said he has spent years trying to move past a series of marijuana-related arrests that began when he was around 18.

“I can’t even count how many times I’ve been arrested for weed,” Bolton said.

A judge granted orders to expunge and seal Bolton’s cannabis cases early last year. Nearly a year later, Bolton says his record remains in “limbo” as he has yet to receive official confirmation that it has been cleared. While he said he expected the process to take some time, he didn’t anticipate a delay of this length.

This prolonged uncertainty, Bolton said, has taken an emotional toll.

“At the time of you doing the process, you feel like you accomplished something,” Bolton said. “But when you don’t start hearing back, it kind of just dims your light a little bit.”

Both Myles’ and Bolton’s experiences come as the federal government moves to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug — a shift that would expand research and formally acknowledge its accepted medical use and lower risk of abuse.

However, legal experts say this change will not affect eligibility or timelines for expungement or sealing processes in Illinois, as record-clearing is governed entirely by state law. Bertini said eligibility depends on what happened in the case, such as whether it resulted in a conviction, not how marijuana is classified federally.

She also said she and her team have not experienced resistance from Cook County judges when it comes to clearing cannabis cases. However, she has heard from other practitioners that judges in more rural counties tend to take a harsher stance.

“I think we’re quite fortunate in Cook County that the judges don’t see an issue with it,” Bertini said.

Josh Niewoehner, supervising attorney for the New Leaf Cannabis Expungement Project at CARPLS Legal Aid, says the federal reclassification could be cited in contested cases, particularly in those rural counties where the state objects more frequently.

He added that the move could build momentum for broader record-clearing reforms nationwide.

“I think what it’s going to do is create more exposure,” Niewoehner said. “It sounds like most of the country’s on board with it, and it’s going to allow, hopefully, for other states to get on board like Illinois has been on board, with allowing for people to expunge and seal criminal records for something that is heading towards national legalization.”

Capitol News Illinois reached out to the State Police to ask what may be contributing to delays in processing expungement and record-sealing orders. The agency did not immediately respond.

Legal experts are hopeful the recently enacted Clean Slate Act in Illinois will help streamline the process and help mitigate the record-clearing backlog.

Yet, despite recent legal developments at both the state and federal levels, tangible relief remains elusive for people like Myles and Bolton, who are still awaiting answers.

“Just as efficient and on time they are when taking you to court and getting you locked up and taking you to the bullpen, it should be (that way) on the other side, too,” Bolton said.

Kaitlin Bender-Thomas is a graduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois. 

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.