New Jersey Expungement of Criminal Record – Time is of the Essence
Who knew that an arrest or conviction from 10, 20 or even 30 years ago could impact your life today. Unfortunately, many people believe that the dismissal of their criminal charges, or the relatively minor nature of the charge itself would never be maintained in a criminal record data base let alone be accessible to a potential employer. My guess is that most people do not even think to expunge their criminal record in New Jersey until an employer or potential employer informs them that their criminal record is a problem.
In today’s economic climate, more and more people are switching jobs or adding a second job to supplement their income. Criminal background checks, once only reserved for those working in law enforcement or needing security clearance, are now common place. Employers, School admissions personnel as well as professional licensing boards often require criminal background checks as a prerequisite to employment or admission. Absent a criminal expungement, your arrest or conviction will “show up” on your record potentially costing you a job or a professional license.
An expungement is the technical term for clearing or concealing your criminal record. In fact, once an expungement has been ordered by a New Jersey Superior Court Judge, then you are legally authorized to answer “no” on most applications that ask if you have ever been arrested or convicted of a crime.
The first step in expunging your New Jersey criminal record is to determine whether or not your conviction is eligible for expungement in New Jersey. An arrest for any crime may be expunged, however, some convictions for crimes are not expungeable while others require a waiting period before the petition for expungement may be filed.
For most felony criminal convictions in New Jersey, such as possession of an illegal drug, an individual may seek an expungement ten (10) years after being discharged from probation or parole. Disorderly persons or Petty Disorderly Persons convictions require a five (5) year waiting period after discharge from probation and/or payment of the fine in full before and expungement can be granted. On the other hand, a Municipal Ordinance conviction, also known as a Borough Ordinance violation only requires a two (2) year waiting period from the time of discharge from probation and/or payment in full of the fine.
As I said in the beginning, charges that have been dismissed may still show up on your criminal record. A New Jersey expungement must be filed to have reference to that arrest removed from your criminal record. The good news is that an arrest followed by a dismissal is immediately eligible for an expungement. For diversionary program, such as Pre-trial Intervention ( PTI) or a Conditional Discharge (CD) on a possession of marijuana of paraphernalia charge, the waiting period for an expungement is six (6) months from the date of successful discharge from the program.
In this ever increasing age of background checks and job insecurity, it certainly pays to have your record expunged so you can answer questions on any application confident that your reputation and character has not been pre-judged by a potential employer or licensing board.
Clark and Clark, LLC is a criminal defense law firm that exclusively practices criminal law. The firms attorneys are former prosecutors who have handled hundreds of expungement applications throughout the State of New Jersey.
Free consultations • Credit cards accepted • Weekend appointments and evenings available • 24 hour phone availability to both current and prospective clients.
Located conveniently next to the courthouse, our New Jersey criminal defense attorneys take cases throughout the state including Monmouth County, Ocean County, Mercer County, Somerset County, Union County, and Middlesex County, NJ.
