DEAR Program Wins Route Fifty ‘Leaders’ Award
DURHAM, NC — The Durham Expunction and Restoration Program (DEAR) has been recognized with a Route Fifty Navigator Award.
Ryan Smith, Durham’s Innovation Team director, Superior Court Judge Josephine Kerr Davis, District Court Judge Amanda Maris, and District Attorney Satana Deberry were named the winners of the “Leaders” category for their role in the DEAR Program. Route Fifty, a digital news publication from Atlantic Media that covers technology and innovation in state and local government, announced Navigator Award winners in five categories during a ceremony on November 20, 2019.
The four were nominated for the award by Durham Mayor Steve Schewel.
“I’m so proud of this recognition of the DEAR Program because it is making a tangible difference in the lives of thousands of our residents,” Schewel said. “The DEAR Program is a truly collaborative effort that would not be as successful as it is without each partner involved. It is proof that when we come together with a common goal to solve a problem facing our community, we can accomplish big things.”
The DEAR Program, which offers free legal assistance with license restoration and expunctions, was launched in October 2018 after an analysis of city data found that one in five Durham residents has a revoked or suspended license. The program identifies individuals whose driving privileges have been suspended indefinitely due to unpaid traffic fines and fees or unresolved traffic matters and, through the court process, proactively erases outstanding debt or charges in qualifying cases.
“Often, these individuals have had their licenses suspended for far longer than a court would have ordered for their original traffic offense,” said Deberry. “Everyone in Durham is safer when people are properly licensed and insured to drive and everyone in Durham is safer when our neighbors have access to economic and social opportunities that would be out of reach without a license.”
Since January, DEAR — working with the District Attorney’s Office, court clerks, and local judges — has waived $1.2 million in unpaid traffic court debt for 4,500 people with active license suspensions in Durham County. In 2018, the program, under the leadership of then-assistant district attorney Kerr Davis, dismissed about 50,000 old traffic charges for 35,000 people with active license suspensions. In all cases, individuals had their driving privileges suspended for at least two years, although some cases were nearly three decades old. Charges like driving while impaired and fleeing arrest are exempted from the program.
In addition, attorneys in the DEAR office filed 560 petitions to help individuals expunge prior convictions and charges from their criminal records in 2019 — more than the total petitions filed across Durham County last year. The program’s court referral component, the first of its kind in the state, ensures that individuals in Durham County courts are referred immediately to DEAR for expunction assistance upon a not guilty judgement or dismissal of their charges. Dismissed charges and prior convictions can appear on background checks for employment and housing.
“For me, the work of a judge is not complete without contributing to innovative approaches to justice reform. Before DEAR, access to expunctions was primarily available to those who could either afford an attorney or were lucky enough to hear about a free community clinic,” said Maris. “I am proud to be one of DEAR’s founders and to see such meaningful access to second chances.”
More about the DEAR Program: The DEAR Program is a project of the City of Durham’s Innovation Team in collaboration with the North Carolina Justice Center, the Durham County Criminal Justice Resource Center, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Duke Law School, North Carolina Central University School of Law, the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center, the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice commission, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Center for Racial justice Innovation, the Durham County District Attorney’s Office and local courts.
People with license suspensions stemming from traffic charges in Durham County can find out if they have already received relief from the DEAR Program by visiting SecondChanceDriving.org. They can seek assistance with license restoration or expunctions by visiting the DEAR office, located in Suite 6400 on the sixth floor of the Durham County Courthouse at 510 South Dillard Street in Durham. No appointment is needed. More information, including program eligibility criteria, can be found at DEARDurham.org.
