Reasons For Expunging Dismissals & Not Guilty Findings

If you are arrested for a crime, you will have to appear before at least a judge or a Grand Jury. If the charges against you are dismissed at any time during the proceeding, you will be free to go on your way without any kind of conviction on your criminal record. Similarly, if your case goes to trial and you are found not guilty, there will be no criminal charge on your record. If this is the case, what would be the need for expungement?

Reason for Expunging a Dismissal or Not Guilty Verdict

Although you do not have a conviction on your record in these cases, it is not as if the arrest never happened. Potential employers, lenders or others who may have access to government records may still see a dismissal or not guilty verdict in the public record and, fairly or not, assume that you must be guilty of something and thereby deny you whatever you are applying to them for. The only complete solution for you is to remove public record of the incident altogether.

About Expungement

This is largely what expungement is for. Although in many states, expungement is designed to get a felony or misdemeanor off the record, in some states, expungement is only a resource for those who want their record wiped clean of a dismissal or not guilty verdict. The expungement, for legal purposes, makes it as if the arrest itself never happened at all, so no one looking at your records will have any reason to suspect that you are anything but a completely law-abiding, upstanding citizen, which you may in fact be.

Eligibility for Expungement

If you have never committed a criminal offense and are trying to get a dismissal or a not guilty verdict expunged from your record, or trying to have the record sealed, you probably have recourse, depending upon the state in which the alleged offense was committed. One way to find out is by going to ClearUpMyRecord.com.com, setting up an account and filling out the free eligibility check. If you find you are eligible for dismissal, ClearUpMyRecord.com can post all the necessary documentation for you to download, fill out and print out, along with instructions on exactly how you need to fill out the forms and where you need to send them. Depending on the state and the situation you may be required to go into court, but you will just need to answer a few questions and will probably not need a lawyer for this proceeding.

After Expungement

Once a judge has determined that you are eligible for expungement, he or she will order that the dismissal or not guilty verdict will be removed from the record (in certain states, the records may be sealed instead). Once the dismissal or verdict is expunged, it will be gone from the record and you will never need to mention it again. This means the dismissal or verdict will not be an impediment to you on any future job or loan applications, or any other situation where someone might have occasion to examine your standing in the public record.