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Criminal Law Commons

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Washington and Lee University School of Law

2023

Reform

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Full-Text Articles in Criminal Law

Grappling With Our Own Errors: Lessons From State V. Blake, Alicia Ochsner Utt Apr 2023

Grappling With Our Own Errors: Lessons From State V. Blake, Alicia Ochsner Utt

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

After fifty years of a failed war on drugs, many states are just now beginning to take steps toward attempting to repair a half-century of harm. By examining the response of Washington’s government at the executive and legislative levels to the Washington Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Blake, this Note identifies some key factors that must be present in the paths forward for all states in their own processes of reform. The stakeholders involved in transforming the criminal legal system must ensure that relief from prior drug-related convictions is automatic, geographically standardized, and complete. Any form of relief …