Expungement Process and Worksheet

What do we mean by expungement?

An expungement (or expunction) is the court-ordered removal of a charge (criminal or non-criminal, convicted or non-convicted) from your record.

See our Glossary page for more terms and definitions.

Why are we doing this now?

Recently, North Carolina passed The Second Chance Act, which expands the eligibility for expungements and creates automatic expungement processes. There has never been a better time to pursue an expungement in Durham.

What can you expect from this website?

This website is for people who have been charged with crimes or infractions in Durham County. This includes all dispositions - convictions and non-convictions, acquittals, and dismissals.

This website and tool:

• Helps you understand your records and if/how they might qualify for expungement.

• Describes the broader context of the expungement process, The Second Chance Act, and criminal justice data.

• Provides a downloadable worksheet, general tips, and a glossary to make sense of the data, information, and steps within the expungement process.

What's the purpose of this website?

Information about expungements should be readily available and easy to understand. However, many of the criminal justice system’s processes are unnecessarily confusing and costly. This is deeply unjust because you are the person most affected by the outcomes of this process, and you deserve to have full knowledge of it every step of the way.

• We refuse the idea that certain concepts are too technical or complex for the "average" person to understand.

• We know that, given the right tools and resources, everyone should be able to navigate their journey through the criminal justice system feeling respected, informed, and empowered.

• Additionally, the more ownership you have over the process, the more you can exert your rights and responsibilities as an active participant in the system.

• By gathering and "decoding" some of your criminal justice records and information yourself, you also have the potential to save money by eliminating some of the prep work that attorneys perform through by-the-hour billing structures.

Impact of Criminal Records and Expungement On Our Community

• At least 2 million North Carolinians have criminal records

• “1 in 4 North Carolinians have criminal records, creating devastating ‘collateral consequences’ that impact housing, employment, and other opportunities.” (What Is Senate Bill 562, n.d.)

• “A job applicant with a criminal record is 50 percent less likely to receive a call back. The negative impact of a criminal record is twice as large for Black applicants.” (What Is Senate Bill 562, n.d.)

Employment

• Most employers conduct criminal background checks, and often automatically reject applicants because of decades-old charges or dismissed charges.

Housing

• In addition, ~45% of people living in Durham rent (US Census Bureau, 2019), and most (if not all) landlords conduct background checks as well. Some will outright reject an applicant based on their record, while some will impose penalties such as higher upfront deposits.

Having a criminal record creates an unjust lack of opportunities and clearing your record through expungement can provide relief from these consequences.

What cases are eligible?

In order to understand expungement and The Second Chance Act, let's take a look at who might be impacted by the expansion of expungement based on recent numbers that we have available about charges in Durham County.

Notes on the chart:

• The large number of Traffic-related Misdemeanors.

• The majority of the cases are marked “other”, making it very difficult to calculate how many cases are eligible for expungement.

• This Durham County data also does not show if the charges are violent or non-violent, which is important in determining expungement eligibility. Violent charges are not eligible for expungement.

Because of the Second Chance Act, who might be eligible for expungement?

It is hard to determine an exact number due to the lack of data showing exact conviction and charge types, however, we can make some informed estimates based on the following.

People with felonies

• • • Non-violent convictions will be eligible in 10 years

    • Most non-convictions are eligible for expungement by petition or automatically after December 2021

People with misdemeanors

• • • Single non-violent convictions will be eligible in 5 years

    • More than one non-violent convictions will be eligible in 7 years

    • Most non-convictions are eligible for expungement by petition or automatically after December 2021

Because expunction eligibility draws a hard line between violent and non-violent crimes (remember, violent charges are not eligible for expungement) let's take a look at those differences.

As you can see, the majority of charges state-wide are non-violent - which means that more cases are eligible for expunction than you might have thought!

If we apply these percentages of non-violent felonies (83.63%) and non-violent/non-DWI misdemeanors (88.79%) to the numbers in Durham County we can estimate that:

***These estimates are based on the assumption that Durham County's ratio of violent and non-violent crimes is generally reflective of the state's

We were not able to find specific demographic data about who was booked and charged in Durham County, their charges, and conviction status. There is data showing racial biases in North Carolina and Durham-specific data and community stories that show the Durham Police Department’s biases towards the Black Community.

Stories of Racial Profiling in Durham from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Numbers are not the only type of data. People's stories are also powerful data and information. The video below shares individuals experiences with racial profiling in Durham.

This data shows that Black individuals are up to twice as likely to be stopped by the Durham police for traffic stops as compared to non-Black individuals. Since we know that the majority of annual charges in Durham County are traffic-related misdemeanors, it follows that the Black community is currently more negatively impacted by these stops, and would be more positively impacted by the broadening expungement rules from The Second Chance Act.

Looking to History for Answers

There is a 150 year+ record of racial exploitation in the history of Durham’s policies and governance. Major inequalities in policy & practice have actively harmed minority communities, in particular the Black community. They have shaped how those communities experience life in Durham today. Bull City 150 is a resource about Durham’s history from colonial times to the present. It draws connections between past policies and present inequality.

A Thriving Black Durham

In the early- to mid-20th century, Black Durhamites established “Black Wall Street”, a thriving economic and residential hub (centered around Parrish Street). This was adjacent to a larger Black residential neighborhood known as Hayti. Black Durhamites had carved out a self-sufficient, successful, independently functioning community there. This was remarkable in the face of decades of repressive and racist anti-Black policies.