| An expungement is a process where a conviction or plea of either Guilty or No Contest in a criminal case is set aside and the case is dismissed, including a DUI arrest. |
Get Criminal Record ExpungedWhen you get a criminal record "expunged", this means that the record is treated as if it did not exist. There are limits to expungement - for example, some states maintain separate registries for people who have been convicted of child abuse or sex offenses, and the expungement of a criminal record may not affect those cases. For some subsequent purposes such as applying for a job which requires a government security clearance, the odds are very high that the employer will discover the full criminal history so it may be best to admit getting your criminal record expunged when applying for this type of job. People want to get their criminal record expunged for a variety of reasons. Some simply wish to remove an embarrassing from their past. Others want to have their right to vote reinstated, in a state which suspends voting rights for convicted felons. Most jurisdictions have systems whereby people can apply for pardons. While an expungement is typically issued by the court in which a person was convicted of a crime, a pardon is an executive action which can partially or fully lift the consequences of the conviction. Another option is to seal a criminal record, although this usually occurs only with juvenile records (and sometimes even then only if they stay out of the laws eyes during their first few years of adulthood). States have very different policies on expungement. Some states may exclude the possibility of expungement, others may limit its availability to people who have only one criminal conviction on their records, while others may be more generous. You will also be required to have been discharged from your sentence for a considerable period of time, without further legal incident. You will need to investigate the policies of the jurisdiction which issued the conviction or convictions, in judging whether you are eligible to get your criminal record expunged. |
