Ex-Con Earns Law Degree, Hopes to Help Others Like Herself
Things didn’t look good for Lynn Burke when she got out of prison 20 years ago, after serving two years on a felony fraud conviction.
Broke and the mother of four young children, she went home to find them living in squalor in a public housing project as her husband struggled with a drug addiction. Working to support the family, she got jobs by using her maiden name to hide her criminal background, recounts the Raleigh News & Observer.
Finally, in 2006, decades after she initially registered for classes at North Carolina State University, she graduated with a degree in social work. All four of her children are also college graduates and a son is a Raleigh police officer. Last month, Burke, who is now 47, earned her law degree from North Carolina Central University.
Once she passes the bar exam, she hopes get a job as a criminal defense lawyer, helping others, like herself, who have “screwed up royally,” says Burke, explaining “I want to be that benefit of the doubt that someone can change.”
