When Proposition 64 legalized marijuana in California, it also meant that people with old marijuana convictions could petition to have those offenses taken off their criminal record or downgraded to lower-level crimes. That process takes time and money, and sets up a lot of obstacles for people who may not be able to hire an attorney or take time off work. In San Francisco, the district attorney’s office is helping by going through records itself, and doing it very quickly, with the help of an algorithm a machine developed by the nonprofit Code for America which can read through charging documents, identify codes for various crimes, and then automatically determine which felony convictions can be downgraded to a misdemeanor (those who also committed violent crimes, for example, can’t have their records downgraded). Then the tool automatically fills out required forms that the district attorney can file with the court.