How to get a retail theft removed from your criminal record ...

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How to get a retail theft removed from your criminal record

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DakotaLegal's picture

Overview of Pennsylvania


Overview of Pennsylvania State Criminal Expungement Or Sealing
 
In Pennsylvania State, criminal records are considered public information. A “criminal” record may actually be created by a police department, at the time you are arrested and fingerprinted. This record will probably include information on how the arrest was concluded (conviction, acquittal, dismissal). To remove your theft record from public access, criminal records can be expunged or “sealed.” We’ll be looking at 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 9122 for your rights. http://law.justia.com/codes/pennsylvania/2010/title-18/chapter-91/9121/. Here, you can get an expungement form… http://www.buckscounty.org/government/rowofficers/ClerkofCourts/Expungement.aspx.
 
There are three grounds for sealing or expunging records in Pennsylvania: (1) the charges were withdrawn; (2) you were acquitted; (3) you completely satisfied an ARD under court approval.
 
Expungement is where a court orders the destruction of information—including your records kept in all types of files, computers, or other official, government records. This does leave open the possibility that a retailer may keep a record of the theft.
 
There can be important differences between sealing and expunging records. Sealing a record means to protect it from examination by the public and unauthorized court personnel. A sealed record is not included in a criminal history record. All, or just some parts, of your record may be sealed. Sealing is also often court-ordered for reasons of privacy (youth) or if safety worries (threats) outweigh any public right to access the records. Keep in mind, any evidence of a sealed file may still show up in some minor details, and appear court indexes. The good news is that all that should be seen on these indexes is limited to a case number, names of the parties, and case type.
 
“Sealing” always leaves open the possibility of your record being unsealed. Court records in Pennsylvania are maintained by the Prothonotary of each separate court. So if you were charged with crimes in several Pennsylvania counties, you should also check to see if you have a record in each county court.
 
Pennsylvania courts also vacate judgments, especially for juveniles (I’m not sure what age you were when convicted of theft). ‘Vacation’ of your retail theft is when the court completely clears the record of conviction, and can later be the reason for getting an expungement, too. http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/3/26/185029/470. Once a conviction is vacated or expunged, the fact that you might have been convicted of retail theft is no longer supposed to appear in your criminal history. This should apply if you are ever charged with another crime again. After you get an expungement, you can also say you have never been convicted of the retail theft.
 
There are also some limits on whether you can seal or expunge, at any given time. When you request expungement, there cannot be any criminal charges against you in any court (including outside of Pennsylvania).
 
Vacating, sealing, or destroying of a court record doesn’t automatically delete any records kept by Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies. Your request to delete records kept by other agencies has to be made to each agency, separately. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/pa-supreme-court/1027834.html .After you get the expungement, be sure to send copies to all law enforcement agencies that may have notice of the original theft. After a year has passed, follow up to be sure the record really has been expunged.
 

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DakotaLegal's picture

Overview of Pennsylvania


Overview of Pennsylvania State Criminal Expungement Or Sealing
 
In Pennsylvania State, criminal records are considered public information. A “criminal” record may actually be created by a police department, at the time you are arrested and fingerprinted. This record will probably include information on how the arrest was concluded (conviction, acquittal, dismissal). To remove your theft record from public access, criminal records can be expunged or “sealed.” We’ll be looking at 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 9122 for your rights. http://law.justia.com/codes/pennsylvania/2010/title-18/chapter-91/9121/. Here, you can get an expungement form… http://www.buckscounty.org/government/rowofficers/ClerkofCourts/Expungement.aspx.
 
There are three grounds for sealing or expunging records in Pennsylvania: (1) the charges were withdrawn; (2) you were acquitted; (3) you completely satisfied an ARD under court approval.
 
Expungement is where a court orders the destruction of information—including your records kept in all types of files, computers, or other official, government records. This does leave open the possibility that a retailer may keep a record of the theft.
 
There can be important differences between sealing and expunging records. Sealing a record means to protect it from examination by the public and unauthorized court personnel. A sealed record is not included in a criminal history record. All, or just some parts, of your record may be sealed. Sealing is also often court-ordered for reasons of privacy (youth) or if safety worries (threats) outweigh any public right to access the records. Keep in mind, any evidence of a sealed file may still show up in some minor details, and appear court indexes. The good news is that all that should be seen on these indexes is limited to a case number, names of the parties, and case type.
 
“Sealing” always leaves open the possibility of your record being unsealed. Court records in Pennsylvania are maintained by the Prothonotary of each separate court. So if you were charged with crimes in several Pennsylvania counties, you should also check to see if you have a record in each county court.
 
Pennsylvania courts also vacate judgments, especially for juveniles (I’m not sure what age you were when convicted of theft). ‘Vacation’ of your retail theft is when the court completely clears the record of conviction, and can later be the reason for getting an expungement, too. http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/3/26/185029/470. Once a conviction is vacated or expunged, the fact that you might have been convicted of retail theft is no longer supposed to appear in your criminal history. This should apply if you are ever charged with another crime again. After you get an expungement, you can also say you have never been convicted of the retail theft.
 
There are also some limits on whether you can seal or expunge, at any given time. When you request expungement, there cannot be any criminal charges against you in any court (including outside of Pennsylvania).
 
Vacating, sealing, or destroying of a court record doesn’t automatically delete any records kept by Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies. Your request to delete records kept by other agencies has to be made to each agency, separately. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/pa-supreme-court/1027834.html .After you get the expungement, be sure to send copies to all law enforcement agencies that may have notice of the original theft. After a year has passed, follow up to be sure the record really has been expunged.