State Sen. Darius Brown (D-Wilmington) and new House Minority Leader Tim Dukes (R-Laurel) host an Expungement Fair in Sussex County next week.
Following the passage of Brown’s Adult Expungement Reform Act in 2019, which expanded expungement eligibility for justice-involved individuals, the state senator and his colleagues have hosted expungement fairs statewide.
Next Wednesday, one of those resource fairs is coming to Laurel, where a limited availability of free one-on-one legal counseling is available to learn about the record expungement process.
Brown says these events help individuals obtain employment, housing, education "and remove this barrier, this stigma, this label, this branding that has prohibited them from really living out their full potential and having access and opportunity for upward mobility for themselves and their families.”
If individuals cannot pre-register for one-on-one counseling, Brown still encourages justice-involved residents to attend to receive information and set up future sit downs with the Office of Defense Services (ODS) or representatives from the Delaware Department of Labor's APEX Program.
He says those with juvenile records can also come and learn about the expungement process.
The event follows the beginning of the statewide automatic expungement process — known as the Clean Slate Act — which began on August 1 for about 290,000 eligible individuals.
Eligible records that can be expunged automatically include things like non convictions — charges or arrests that were dropped or found not guilty — certain misdemeanors after five years and a very limited number of felonies after 10 years. You can find the full list of eligible records here.
Brown says even if an individual thinks they qualify for automatic expuqngmenet, he still encourages them to attend the event to learn more about the process.
"I would encourage everyone to come in, whether you know, or you're not quite sure. I think those that know or those that are not quite sure should come get the information, find out if they're eligible, when they might be eligible based on eligibility — maybe it hasn't been a five-year period for their offense, and they have to wait another year — but get that information, understand what that process is, so that they can begin to do the paperwork and working with ODS and APEX, so they can receive their expungement," Brown said.
While a lot of criminal justice reform work is centered around New Castle County, Brown says Sussex County is "not forgotten," and Dukes says he's happy to be apart of that effort.
“This issue of expungements, it's not a Republican issue, it's not a Democrat, it's not Black, it's not white — this is a humanity issue, and we are trying to reach out to people with encouragement that there is hope after incarceration," Dukes said.
He says that in his 12 years of legislative service, entering his 13th year, his proudest accomplishment is the seven people he has worked with to help get a pardon by the governor, including Melvin Jenkins who was pardoned by Gov. John Carney in 2017.
"I appreciate this program. I really, really appreciate it that somebody [saw] something in me that I didn't see," Jenkins said, and went on to explain how happy he was to have been able to vote in this past election.
The fair will be held at Laurel Public Library on Wednesday, November 20, from 3:30-6:00 p.m.
You can register for the event here.
