Police fingerprints stay on record essentially for life. The FBI’s Next Generation Identification system holds fingerprint images until the person would have turned 110, or for seven years after a confirmed death notification, and the associated criminal history record is classified as permanent by the National Archives.1Federal Register. Privacy Act of 1974 System of Records2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Next Generation Identification NGI – Retention and Searching of Noncriminal Justice Fingerprint Submissions Nothing about that timeline changes if your charges were dropped or you were acquitted. Getting the prints out requires either an expungement order or a request from the agency that originally submitted them.
The Retention Timeline in Detail
When you’re booked, your prints are scanned and entered into the state criminal identification database, then forwarded to the FBI for storage in NGI.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Next Generation Identification System Fact Sheet Two separate retention rules apply from that point. The automated criminal history record — the rap sheet entries and transaction logs — is scheduled for permanent retention. The underlying fingerprint images and biographic data are destroyed only when records indicate the individual has reached age 110, or seven years after a death notification with biometric confirmation.
Severity of the charge doesn’t matter. A misdemeanor shoplifting arrest and a felony robbery arrest are treated identically in the database. There are only two ways to shorten the timeline: the submitting agency asks the FBI to remove the record, or a court orders removal.
Dismissed Charges and Acquittals Don’t Clear the Record
One of the most common misunderstandings is that a dismissal, acquittal, or decision not to prosecute erases the fingerprint record. It doesn’t. The arrest and prints remain in both state and federal databases regardless of how the case ended.
The FBI’s file often makes this worse. Arrest entries frequently sit in the database with no disposition information attached, meaning the record shows you were arrested but says nothing about the charges being dropped. To an employer or licensing board looking at that rap sheet, the missing outcome can read like an unresolved case.
Who Can See Your Fingerprints While They’re on File
Law enforcement at every level — local, state, and federal — has broad access to the record for criminal justice purposes. A traffic-stop prints check or a cold case investigator pulls the full history, including dismissed charges.
Private employers running standard background checks usually don’t touch the FBI fingerprint database; they rely on name-based court record searches instead. But some fields require fingerprint-based FBI checks by law, including jobs involving children, the elderly, classified material, financial trust positions, and transportation security. When an employer in one of those fields submits your prints, the report they receive includes your full arrest history.
The Seven-Year Rule for Private Background Checks
The Fair Credit Reporting Act limits what commercial background screening companies can put in a report. Under Section 605(a), a consumer reporting agency generally cannot include arrest records more than seven years old if the arrest didn’t lead to a conviction.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 – Section 1681c The seven-year clock runs from the date of arrest, not from when the case was resolved.5Federal Register. Fair Credit Reporting Background Screening Convictions can be reported indefinitely under federal law, though some states impose shorter limits.
This restricts what screening companies say about you. It does not delete anything from the FBI’s system. Police still see the full record no matter how old it is, and the seven-year cap doesn’t apply when a government agency runs a fingerprint check directly through the FBI rather than through a private vendor.
Rap Back Ongoing Monitoring
If you were fingerprinted for a job in a sensitive field, your employer may have enrolled you in the FBI’s Rap Back service. Rap Back keeps your prints in NGI and sends the employer automatic notifications if you’re arrested later, replacing periodic re-checks with continuous vetting.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Privacy Impact Assessment NGI Rap Back Service Subscriptions expire automatically if the enrolling agency doesn’t revalidate them within five years.
Fingerprints Taken for Employment or Licensing
The retention rules aren’t limited to arrests. Fingerprints submitted for non-criminal purposes — a teaching credential, a childcare position, a security clearance — are stored in the NGI civil repository and follow the same schedule: destruction at age 110 or seven years after confirmed death.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Next Generation Identification NGI – Retention and Searching of Noncriminal Justice Fingerprint Submissions They can be searched against latent prints recovered from crime scenes exactly the way criminal prints can. Civil prints don’t carry a criminal record with them, but they do sit in the same biometric system.
Juvenile Fingerprints
Juvenile records are restricted, not automatically destroyed. Federal law requires that a juvenile be fingerprinted when found guilty of an act that would be a violent felony or certain drug offenses if committed by an adult. Those prints are safeguarded from unauthorized disclosure and cannot be released for employment, licensing, or bonding inquiries; responses must match what would be given for someone with no delinquency record at all.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 – Section 5038 Use of Juvenile Records
The federal statute doesn’t require destruction of juvenile fingerprints, though. If a juvenile is prosecuted as an adult, the prints are treated like any other adult record — fully accessible and permanently retained. State rules on juvenile fingerprint retention vary widely, with some states mandating destruction at a certain age and others simply restricting access.
Checking What the FBI Has on You
Before you can fix or remove anything, you need to see the record. You can request your own FBI Identity History Summary — the rap sheet — for $18.8Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions Requests can be submitted electronically with prints taken at a participating U.S. Post Office, or by mailing a completed fingerprint card. A fee waiver is available if you can’t afford the cost.
Pulling the rap sheet is especially useful if you were arrested but never convicted. The record may show the arrest and no disposition, which can look worse on a background check than the truth. If you spot missing or wrong information, you can file a written challenge with the FBI, supported by court records showing the actual outcome. A challenge fixes the record; it does not erase it.
Getting Fingerprints Removed
Two legal mechanisms remove fingerprint and arrest records from police databases: expungement and record sealing. Expungement deletes the record. Sealing leaves it intact but blocks it from public access so it won’t appear on most background checks. States use the terms differently, and some use them interchangeably.
Eligibility turns on state law, the type of offense, how the case ended, and your overall criminal history. If your charges were dismissed, you were acquitted, or you were arrested and never formally charged, you’re generally in the strongest position. Expunging actual convictions is harder; many states limit it to lower-level offenses and impose waiting periods.
The process starts with a petition in the court that handled your case, along with the required forms and filing fees. If the court grants the petition, it issues an order directing law enforcement agencies — including the FBI — to clear the record. For nonfederal records, the FBI removes the data from NGI at the request of the state agency or on receipt of a court order.8Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions
Clean Slate Laws
A growing number of states have Clean Slate laws that automate sealing or expungement for certain records, removing the need to file a petition. As of 2025, thirteen states and Washington, D.C. have enacted these laws. Eligible records, typically nonviolent offenses, dismissed charges, and arrests that didn’t lead to prosecution, are sealed automatically after a set waiting period. Serious offenses like sexual violence, DUI, and crimes requiring sex offender registration are usually excluded.
Even in Clean Slate states, some records slip through, so it’s worth pulling your FBI rap sheet afterward to confirm the federal database was updated.
Federal Records Are Different
There is no general federal expungement statute, so federal convictions are nearly impossible to erase. The one narrow statutory path is 18 U.S.C. § 3607: a person under 21 found guilty of simple drug possession as a first offense can be placed on probation without a conviction being entered, and successful completion allows the court to expunge all references to the arrest and proceedings from official records.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 – Section 3607 Special Probation and Expungement Procedures for Drug Possessors
Outside that exception, most federal circuits have held that courts lack authority to expunge valid federal records. A few appellate circuits recognize equitable expungement, but only in truly exceptional cases. Federal arrest data that didn’t result in a conviction can be removed, but only at the request of the agency that originally submitted the prints.