Criminal Records, Expungement Expunge conviction?

[thewuz]

I was arrested and plead "no contest" to a DUI 16 years ago (in California). It is the only infraction I have on my record. I am thinking of having my record expunged. I have researched the California requirements and I am, in fact, eligible to have the record expunged. My question is, if it is expunged, will people still be able to look me up on the court's public record database? Currently, the superior court has a database which allows the public to search by name if people have a criminal record. While the details of my case are currently archived, my name still comes up during the search stating that I was convicted of some crime 16 years ago. So in short, will my name be removed from this database? If it is not removed, is there any way it can be removed from the public record database? I am beginning a new professional business and this public record could be potentially harmful to my success. Thank you!

 

[CdwJava]

These private enterprise public records databases can generally hold CA info for 7 years. So, even if you get it expunged, many of these databases might still possess the data for the next 7 years, regardless. If you can convince a judge to serve an order on each of these outfits and have them remove it, go ahead and ask ... he probably won't, but it should not hurt to ask.

- Carl

 

[mafioso]

There are many companies like recordremoval.com which have had a lot of success serving private data bases with court expunctions orders. You pay them for this service. Many people have had a lot of success it cleaning their records.......it take an average of 4 months. You might want to try it. They are in contact with all the 160 private data bases and contact one at a time.......Goodluck.

 

[Scooterdog]

I would think if you have an order for expungement, and someone had this info as was giving it out, you could file an action in Federal Court. You have a right to privacy.

 

[CdwJava]

I would think if you have an order for expungement, and someone had this info as was giving it out, you could file an action in Federal Court. You have a right to privacy.

The expungement generally ONLY applies to records maintained by the involved elements of the judicial system, and they do not necessarily require law enforcement to destroy their records, either.

State will often have differing categories of exungement, and not all require ANY records to be destroyed, only that records be secure from inspection by private entities.

So far, I have not heard of any state that can or will mandate that any and all private holders of this information must relinquish this information or refrain from mentioning it. It would be impossible to erase all records and memories of court actions, and I doubt the state wants to punish people for remembering something that happened.

- Carl

 

[mafioso]

Some states like Texas have laws and penalties against revealing expunged records. First time offenders face $1000 fines per record. The penalty increase with more violations. However, the procedure to punish violators is lengthy and complicated. Most of these data bases are located all over the place and might not be bounded by certain local laws. It is against the law to distribute expunged records in all states. But again implementing this to private data companies is hard. So states like Texas just past recent laws to which would try to force private companies to update their records more frequently with state records.