If you’ve been charged with a crime and either pled guilty or were found guilty, chances are there is a criminal record associated with the incident. These records can cause serious problems for individuals when applying for jobs and housing, getting loans and credit cards, or traveling abroad. In addition to those difficulties, criminal records can also affect your ability to get professional licenses such as teaching or nursing. Fortunately, the ” expungement ” process allows certain types of convictions (or even charges) to be removed or sealed from public access. This article explains the basics of expungement, an expungement attorney, why someone might get one, and the benefits of getting one. Expungement Attorney in Edina MN

What Does Expungement Mean?

There are likely records that exist if you have been arrested or convicted of a crime. These records can be accessed by anyone who wants to know about them. They may appear in background checks and other situations where your criminal history is relevant. Expungement refers to the process of requesting or filing a petition whereby the criminal record associated with a person is “cleaned up”, sealed, or removed from public access. Once this has occurred, the individual is no longer required to disclose his or her conviction history when applying for jobs or housing.

This could result from the conviction being overturned, receiving a pardon, the charge being dismissed or nolle prosequi (not prosecuted), or in certain circumstances, the offense itself may have been reclassified as something different.

In some states, there are other situations where you can get your record expunged. These include:

You were convicted of an offense involving disorderly conduct or harassment but it’s been five years since you completed your sentence and you haven’t had any other convictions during that period of time.
You were convicted of driving under the influence but it’s been more than 10 years since your last conviction for DUI.

Expungements Help Remove Barriers to Employment and Housing Opportunities

To understand what expungements do, it’s important to understand how they work. An expungement removes a person’s criminal record from public records by sealing it and making it unavailable for review by any law enforcement agency or court. Expungements are sometimes referred to as “record sealing” or “expunction.”

If you have been charged with a crime in the past, an expungement may help remove barriers to employment and housing opportunities. A criminal history can make it difficult for someone to get a job or find a place to live. In some cases, even though you may not have been convicted of the crime that resulted in charges against you, having your name on public records makes finding employment more difficult. This is because potential employers might assume that there is something else that they don’t know about yet—even if there isn’t anything else!

How To Get an Expungement

For an expungement to occur, a motion must be filed with the court asking for it. The motion must be filed by an expungement attorney in the county where your case was heard. Also, remember that it is important to have a valid reason for asking for your record to be sealed or destroyed.

Note: If you were convicted of a misdemeanor or felony and were placed on probation but did not complete it successfully (by following all terms of probation), this will not count against you when applying to have your record expunged.

Why Choose Criminal Record Expungement

With an expungement, your criminal record will no longer be available to the public. That means that when you look up a person’s name on the national database, it will show “no report found” or similar language indicating that there is no information about that person. There are some exceptions to this—if you plan on applying for certain jobs, for example—but if you have any hopes of starting over and not having people treat you differently because of what was once on your record, then an expungement may be something worth exploring. Expungement can help remove barriers that may prevent you from equal employment, housing, or other reputation-related opportunities.