In 2016, recreational marijuana was legalized in California. As part of that law, approximately a million people with prior marijuana-related convictions became eligible to have their records cleared. However, to date, only about 30,000 of those who qualify have attempted the process.

To rectify this, a group of activist coders called Code for America is helping to automate expunging these unnecessary criminal records, with a tool called “ClearMyRecord”. It turns out algorithms don’t have to be used in negative ways.