Clearing Your Record
Sealing your record
This procedure is often confused with expungement. The term sealing often
refers to convictions that occur when a person is a juvenile. In most
states a juvenile is anyone under the age of 18. At the least, sealing
a record means that you can have the record sealed from public inspection.
It will not show as a public record. In some states, the sealing procedure
also terminates the criminal file or files of a juvenile charge or conviction.
This can mean the juvenile conviction can be actually dismissed as a matter
of law when the person reaches 18 years of age.
Sealing procedure
The procedure is similar to expungement. In most states a formal motion
must be made to the juvenile court to have all arrests, charges and convictions
permanently sealed from inspection. Often, this can occur up to 5 years
after the person reached the age of 18.
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