Jeffries introduces bipartisan bill to help young drug offenders
Renew Act would expunge convictions of those under 25
The fierce political partisanship in Washington, D.C. is being tossed aside, at least temporarily, by a Brooklyn Democrat and a South Carolina Republican, who have joined forces to try to pass legislation in the House of Representatives to help young, non-violent drug offenders get their lives back on track.
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Canarsie-Coney Island-Sheepshead Bay) is working with U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) for passage of a bill they introduced called the “Renew Act,” a measure aimed at allowing more low-level, non-violent drug offenders to wipe the slate clean.
The Renew Act seeks to extend the provisions of a law former President Ronald Reagan signed in 1984 that allows a young person convicted of a misdemeanor drug possession charge to expunge the conviction if he or she is a first-time offender, if the crime was committed when the offender was under the age of 21 and if the offender has completed probation.
By expunging a conviction, the court is effectively erasing the conviction.