Benevolence Farm is excited to attend this year’s Second Chance Lobby Day.
What exactly is Second Chance Lobby Day? Second Chance Lobby Day is a time for all who believe in second chances to come together to speak to our North Carolina lawmakers about the criminal legal and reentry issues that are impacting our communities.
Check out the NC Second Chance Alliance policy priorities below and RSVP to attend here.
Issue #1: Expunction Expansion
Issue: When someone returns to society, they should not be forced to continue paying for a criminal conviction. People deserve a clean slate, and record relief laws must be expanded to ensure everyone has the opportunity to create a thriving life for themselves and their loved ones.
Demands: (1) allowing qualifying convictions to be expunged even when they appear alongside those that do not qualify for expungement. (2) Reduce the waiting periods for access to expunction relief. (3) Expand eligibility for expunging certain excluded drug offenses, breaking & entering offenses, and simple assault offenses. (4) Increase access to and eligibility for Certificates of Relief where someone is not eligible for an expunction.
Issue #2: Expunction Automation Reinstatement
Issue: When someone returns to society, they should not be forced to continue paying for a criminal conviction. People deserve a clean slate, and record relief laws must be expanded to ensure everyone has the opportunity to create a thriving life for themselves and their loved ones.
Demand: Reinstate the automation provision granted through the 2020 Second Chance Act that allows for the expunction of charges that are dismissed by the court to happen automatically, such that an individual does not have to seek legal support to file a petition and have a hearing to expunge matters that were dismissed by the court.
Issue #3: Drug Tax Abolition
Issue: The North Carolina Drug Tax is a modern relic of the war on drugs. It is an excise tax on illicit controlled substances such as marijuana, cocaine, and moonshine and is intended to tax individuals found with controlled substances the amount of money the state feels they could have made if they sold the drugs that were in their possession. This tax is imposed in addition to the regular court costs and fees and is assessed even if the drug charges are dismissed by the court. These assessments gain significant interest over time and the state is able to garnish wages & take your belongings.
Demand: Repeal the drug tax.
Issue #4: Mugshot Regulation
Issue: When someone returns to society, they should not be forced to continue paying for a criminal conviction. People deserve a clean slate, and record relief laws must be expanded to ensure everyone has the opportunity to create a thriving life for themselves and their loved ones.
Demand: Eliminate public access to mugshots and require regular updates of third-party databases.
Issue #5: Driver’s License Restoration
Issue: North Carolina automatically suspends a person’s driving privilege for failure to pay a traffic ticket. If a person goes to court and pleads guilty to a traffic offense but is unable to pay the costs and fines associated with the ticket, the court sends notice to the DMV and the DMV revokes that person’s driver’s license. More than 300,000 driver’s in NC have suspended driver’s licenses because of unpaid fines and fees. Adequate transportation is crucial for obtaining meaningful jobs and opportunities for most North Carolinians.
Demand: End debt-based driver’s license suspensions in NC.
(Benevolence Farm is a member of the NC Fines & Fees Coalition. To learn more about how to currently waive fines & fees blocking your license, click here.)
Issue #6: State Allocations for Reentry
Issue: North Carolina has a wide network of reentry support and service providers, but they need funding and resources to continue their work.
Demand: Invest in successful re-entry programs for people returning to society to help reduce recidivism, stabilize communities, and improve the quality of life for thousands of North Carolinians.
Issue #7: Repeal Felony SNAP Ban
Issue: People in need of public benefits and assistance must not be denied them because of a criminal record, especially when they have paid their debt to society and face increased barriers to re-entry.
Demands: (1) Completely opt out of the federal ban on SNAP benefits for individuals convicted of felony drug charges- Including the 6-month disqualification period for people convicted of the lowest level drug felonies, and the lifetime ban on people convicted of all other drug-related felonies. (2) Reduce recidivism by ensuring that individuals reentering society have their basic needs met and do not face food insecurity due to being excluded from public benefits programs
(Benevolence Farm knows this issue intimately. Check out our recent blog post on the issue.)
Issue #8: Eliminate/Reduce Fines and Fees
Issue: The North Carolina Court system should not be funded on the backs of those with the least ability to pay. Levying costly fees on people who don’t have the means to pay them creates and criminalizes a cycle of poverty, while entrapping a disproportionate number of Black, Brown and Poor people in the criminal legal system.
Demands: (1) Reduce and eliminate court costs, fines, fees and penalties at all levels of the court system, including the reduction or elimination of jail and probation fees, installment plan fees, failure to appear fees, and law enforcement retirement fund fees. (2) Track statewide data on the filing of AOC-CR-415 forms to determine how these forms are being used across the state.
(Benevolence Farm is a member of the NC Fines & Fees Coalition. To learn more about the Coalition, click here.)