North Carolina is currently in the process of passing The Second Chance Act, a Senate bill that will make it much easier for reformed criminals to get nonviolent crimes off their records. As stated in a letter sent to the state House by a coalition of liberal and conservative organizations, “If this bill is passed, it will have a huge impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, especially people who are being denied a fair chance at employment, housing, and education based on dismissed charges and nonviolent misdemeanor convictions.”
Although the bill has not yet passed, people are clearly in favor of giving second chances. A new poll commissioned by the Raleigh-based Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform gives us insight and tells us that registered voters:
• Favor 89% to 10%, a policy that automatically clears criminal records when a case is dismissed or the person is found not guilty.
• Favor 86% to 12%, the automatic removal of nonviolent misdemeanor convictions from a person’s record if the person has remained crime-free for at least seven years.
• Favor 81% to 18%, a policy that allows people to remove nonviolent misdemeanor convictions from their record if they have remained crime-free for at least five years.
The Second Chance Act is just that, a second chance. It would lessen North Carolina’s criminal record expunction statutes, providing more opportunity for people to clear their records of dismissed charges and low-level criminal convictions. Although North Carolina already permits people to expunge some charges and convictions from their records, the defendants have to petition the court and hire a lawyer for the best results. If the bill becomes law, some charges would be cleared from people’s criminal records automatically and more charges would be eligible to be cleared from their records. If you’re looking for your second chance, you might be able to find it at Easy Expunctions. We offer multiple affordable record clearing packages for qualifying charges. Don’t let legislation get in the way of a second chance you need—get started with a free background check at EasyExpunctions.com.
