To remove an arrest record, you file a petition with the court that handled the case asking a judge to either expunge the record (destroy it) or seal it (hide it from public view). Most states allow this for arrests that never led to a conviction, and many allow it for dismissed cases, acquittals, completed diversion programs, and some minor convictions after a waiting period. The court order handles government databases; getting the record off private background check sites is a separate step you usually have to push yourself.
Expungement or Sealing: What Actually Happens to the Record
The two terms get used interchangeably, but they usually mean different things. Expungement typically deletes the record entirely, as though the arrest never happened. Sealing keeps the record intact but locks it away so the general public, employers, and landlords cannot access it without a court order.1Justia. Expungement and Sealing of Criminal Records
The practical difference shows up when someone asks about your history. After a full expungement, you can generally deny the arrest on job and housing applications. After sealing, the record still exists in a legal sense, but most people and organizations cannot see it. Some states blur these categories or use their own terminology, and a handful treat every “expungement” as a seal. What your state calls the process matters less than what it does to the record.
Does Your Record Qualify
Eligibility comes down to what happened with the case and how serious the original charge was. The easiest records to clear are arrests that never led to charges, cases that were dismissed, and acquittals. If the system acknowledged it had no case against you, most states will let you clear the paperwork.1Justia. Expungement and Sealing of Criminal Records
Completing a diversion or deferred prosecution program also opens the door in many states. These programs let you avoid a conviction by meeting certain conditions, and once you finish, the underlying charge becomes eligible. Some states extend eligibility to minor misdemeanor convictions after a waiting period, though this is not universal.
Several things can disqualify you:
- Violent felonies, sex offenses, and crimes involving children are almost never eligible, regardless of how the case ended.
- Most states require time to pass since the arrest or resolution before you can petition. The window ranges from immediate eligibility for dismissed cases to several years for certain convictions.
- New arrests or convictions after the original incident often disqualify you or complicate your petition.
Federal Arrests
Federal expungement is extremely limited. No general federal statute covers adult arrest records. The one narrow exception is 18 U.S.C. ยง 3607, which allows expungement for people who were under 21 at the time of a first-time simple drug possession offense and who successfully completed probation without a judgment of conviction. If you qualify, the court orders all official records of the arrest and proceedings expunged, and you can legally deny the arrest ever happened.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 – Section 3607
Outside that window, clearing a federal arrest usually requires a presidential pardon or a court order based on ancillary jurisdiction, which courts grant sparingly and inconsistently. Talk to an attorney who handles federal criminal matters if the arrest was by a federal agency.
Juvenile Records
Juvenile arrest records follow a different path. Many states automatically seal or expunge juvenile records once the person reaches a certain age, often 18 or 21, provided they haven’t been adjudicated for serious offenses. Colorado, for example, expunges records of acquittals, dismissals, and minor adjudications within weeks of resolution. Serious juvenile offenses that could have been tried in adult court are typically excluded from automatic expungement.
Does Your State Clear It Automatically
A growing number of states now clear eligible records without any petition on your part. As of 2025, thirteen states and Washington, D.C. have enacted Clean Slate laws that automatically seal or expunge eligible arrest records and misdemeanor records once a waiting period expires.
If you live in one of these states, check whether your record qualifies before spending time and money on a petition. Automatic systems aren’t perfect, though. Records slip through the cracks because of data entry errors, incomplete court dispositions, or processing backlogs. Filing a petition yourself can be faster than waiting for the system to catch up.
Preparing the Petition
The preparation work is mostly paperwork. Start by identifying the court and law enforcement agency involved in the original arrest. You need the case number, the exact arrest date, and the disposition date showing how the case ended.
Get certified copies of all relevant court documents, especially the final disposition. These serve as official proof that the case was dismissed, you were acquitted, or you completed a diversion program. Most states offer petition forms through their judiciary website or the clerk’s office where the case was handled. Some states use standardized statewide forms; others leave it to individual counties.
Fill out the forms using exact information from your court records. Mismatched case numbers, wrong dates, or incomplete charge descriptions are the most common reasons petitions come back rejected. Some jurisdictions also want a recent criminal background check from your state police agency attached to the petition, so check local requirements before filing.
Filing and Fees
File the petition with the court where the original case was handled. Depending on the jurisdiction, you may file in person at the clerk’s office, by mail, or through an electronic filing system.
Filing fees range from nothing to several hundred dollars depending on the state, the type of offense, and whether the case resulted in a conviction. Cases that were dismissed or resulted in acquittal are sometimes fee-exempt. If the cost is a barrier, many courts offer fee waivers for people who meet income guidelines. Ask the clerk’s office about waiver eligibility.
Most jurisdictions require you to serve notice of your petition on certain parties, typically the prosecutor’s office and the arresting law enforcement agency. This gives them a chance to review the petition and decide whether to object. The clerk’s office can tell you exactly who must be served and how.
Do You Need a Lawyer?
You can file for expungement without a lawyer in most states, and many people do. The forms are often manageable, especially for clear-cut cases like dismissed charges or acquittals. It gets complicated when your record includes multiple charges, convictions mixed with dismissals, or offenses in different jurisdictions. An attorney familiar with your state’s expungement laws can identify which records are eligible, ensure the paperwork is complete, and represent you at a hearing if the prosecutor objects. If your case is simple and your state provides clear forms, doing it yourself is reasonable. If anything about your record is ambiguous, the cost of a lawyer is usually worth avoiding a denied petition and a refile.
After You File
The court and relevant agencies review your petition. The prosecutor’s office gets a set period to object, commonly 30 to 60 days depending on the state. If nobody objects, many courts grant the petition without a hearing, sometimes within 60 to 180 days of filing. Busy urban courts can take significantly longer.
A hearing happens when the prosecutor objects or when local rules require one for every expungement petition. The judge decides whether to grant your request, and the hearing is more conversational than a trial. The judge may ask why you want the record removed, what you’ve done since the arrest, and how the record has affected your life. Come prepared with documentation of steady employment, completed education, community involvement, or letters of recommendation.
If the petition is granted, the court issues an order directing the relevant agencies to expunge or seal the record. Those agencies typically have a set window, often 60 days, to update their systems. The order goes to the arresting agency, the state police or criminal records repository, and sometimes the FBI. Once processed, a standard background check through official channels should come back clean.
If denied, you can usually appeal or refile after a waiting period. The court’s order should explain the reason for the denial, which tells you what to address.
Getting the Record Off Private Background Checks
This is where most people get tripped up. A court order clears the record from government databases, but private background check companies keep their own copies. They scrape court records, and once they’ve captured your arrest, that data can persist in their systems long after the official record is gone. Most courts don’t proactively notify commercial databases about expungement orders.
Federal law helps. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires background check companies to follow reasonable procedures to ensure “maximum possible accuracy” in their reports.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 – Section 1681e Reporting an expunged record violates that standard. Separately, the FCRA prohibits reporting arrest records that are more than seven years old and did not result in a conviction, regardless of whether they’ve been expunged.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 – Section 1681c
If your expunged record shows up on a background check, you have the right to dispute it directly with the reporting company. The company must investigate and correct the information. Keep certified copies of your expungement order and send them to the major background check companies yourself after your order is granted. An industry clearinghouse exists to receive validated expungement orders and push updates to participating screening companies, but not every company participates, so direct notice is faster.
What You Can Say Afterward
Once your record is expunged, most states allow you to legally deny the arrest on job applications, housing applications, and similar inquiries. That is one of the core purposes of the process. The federal expungement statute for first-time drug possession explicitly states that a person with an expungement order cannot be held guilty of perjury or false swearing for failing to acknowledge the arrest.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 – Section 3607 State laws generally follow the same principle, though the exact scope varies.
There are exceptions. Certain government positions, law enforcement jobs, and roles requiring security clearances may still ask about sealed or expunged records, and you may be legally required to disclose them in those contexts. Professional licensing boards in fields like law, medicine, and finance sometimes have similar carve-outs. Read the question being asked carefully. “Have you ever been arrested” is different from “have you ever been convicted,” and different again from “have you ever been arrested, including arrests that were sealed or expunged.”