Pubdate: Sat, 02 Apr 2005
Source: Jacksonville Daily News (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Jacksonville Daily News
Contact:  http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/216
Author: Barry Smith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

SOME TEENS COULD SEE RECORDS EXPUNGED

RALEIGH - Teenagers who get in trouble with the law could soon get
their non-violent offenses erased from the record if they keep their
noses clean for two years.

Rep. Alice Bordsen, D-Alamance, the sponsor of the bill, said the
impetus for the proposal was the February 2004 undercover drug bust
that resulted in the arrest of four-dozen students in the
Alamance-Burlington schools.

Bordsen said that following the drug sweep, she met with "a small
cluster of parents" and discussed similar suggestions.

The sweep resulted in the state's all-time leading boys high school
basketball scorer, JamesOn Curry, pleading guilty to drug charges.
After his plea, Curry lost his basketball scholarship at the
University of North Carolina. He is now on the Oklahoma State
University basketball team.

Brian Lewis, executive director of the Coalition with North Carolina's
Children, said the child advocacy organization supports the
legislation.

"It's going to give them an opportunity to get their life right,"
Lewis said of the children who face non-violent felony charges. "It's
a bill of redemption. Chances are they're not going to turn to a life
of crime."

Lewis said that having a felony conviction on a record so young in
life throws stumbling blocks into teenagers' future.

"There are a lot of colleges and universities that will not allow
felons to enter into their freshman class," he said. Having a felony
conviction also makes it difficult for students to obtain college
loans, he added.

Rep. Louis Pate, R-Wayne, said that he had considered co-sponsoring
the bill, but decided not to because of a concern about the bill.

"If a teen-ager broke into someone's property and later on that was
expunged from his record, to my way of thinking the people who had
been violated would have a lot of problems with that child having the
record expunged," Pate said.

Pate said he is still considering voting for the bill should it reach
the House floor.

The bill would apply to people who commit crimes before their 18th
birthday and have not previously been convicted of a felony or
misdemeanor other than a traffic violation.

The offender could apply to have the record erased no earlier than two
years after the date of the conviction or any period of probation,
whichever occurs later. The offender would have to perform 100 hours
of community service and provide affidavits showing that he had been
of good behavior and had not been convicted of any crimes for the
subsequent two years.

People convicted of more serious crimes - such as murder, rape,
burglary, arson and kidnapping - would not be eligible for an
expunction. People convicted of crimes requiring that they register as
sex offenders or people convicted of assault or trafficking in larger
quantities of drugs would also not be eligible.

Bordsen said she hopes the proposed change would provide motivation
for young offenders to turn their lives around.

"An incentive by which they can redeem themselves is valuable," she
said.
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