Benefit of a Expungement Lawyer
A criminal history can prevent you from living the life span you deserve, irrespective of its age or the seriousness of the underlying offense. The benefit for a fresh expungement lawyer is they can help reopen the doors that your criminal record has closed. Utilize a qualified criminal defense legal professional and know that you will be in capable hands.
Impact of the Criminal Record
A criminal record can limit your ability to access or obtain all the next:
Employment
Occupational licenses
Housing
Firearm rights
Education
Recreational licenses
Business licenses
Government contracts and program participation
Government loans and grants
Government benefits
State and federal laws bar people with certain criminal records from accessing several benefits and opportunities. But even where that’s not the case, most private employers and many public entities are absolve to deny those benefits and opportunities solely based on an arrest or conviction record. The benefit for a fresh expungement attorney is they can work tirelessly to clear someone’s name and protect their rights.
How Can Expungement Help?
Among the great things about a fresh expungement attorney is they can determine whether someone’s criminal history is eligible to be expunged and file a petition in state court to acquire that record sealed away from the view of employers, landlords, among others. Furthermore to sealing a criminal record, expungement supplies the following benefits:
Arrest, conviction, and other proceedings are deemed to never have occurred
A person may deny the existence of criminal background when asked about any of it without penalty
Official agencies must react to any inquiry about your expunged history that no record exists
Limits disqualification or discrimination when wanting to obtain most government licenses
What COULD BE Expunged?
Arrest and Non-Conviction Records
Under N.J. Stat. § 2C:52-6, most arrests not leading to conviction, acquittals (not guilty verdicts), and cases dismissed through deferred adjudication must be expunged after request. There is absolutely no limit how often a person may expunge such records.
Conviction Records
Expungement of conviction records is available for many indictable offenses (felonies) and disorderly individuals and petty disorderly individuals offenses (misdemeanors) pursuant to N.J. Stat. §§ 2C:52-2 and -3. But, unlike non-conviction expungement, a court may deny a obtain conviction expungement if the necessity for the option of the record outweighs the desirability of experiencing a person free of any disabilities that derive from the conviction.
As an over-all matter, a person may only have one indictable offense and up to three disorderly folks offenses expunged their lifetime.
A person’s indictable offenses may be eligible for expunction carrying out a 10-year waiting period (may be reduced to five years under certain circumstances) so long as there are no pending charges, no prior or subsequent indictable offense convictions, no more than two disorderly person offense convictions on their record. Particularly serious and violent offenses are ineligible for expungement.
Disorderly and Petty Disorderly Person Offenses
For disorderly and petty disorderly person offenses, charges may qualify for expungement after a five year-waiting period (may be reduced to 3 years under certain circumstances), so long as there are no pending charges, only one prior or subsequent indictable offense conviction, no more than two other disorderly person offense convictions on the record.
The following dispositions can also be qualified to receive expungement at the mercy of less stringent eligibility requirements: low-level drug convictions for offenses committed at age 21 or younger, drug court cases, and juvenile delinquency adjudications.
Value of Working With an Expungement Attorney
The good thing about a expungement attorney is that they can help you navigate the nuances of complex laws to determine whether your unique criminal background may be expunged.
An experienced expungement lawyer can stand by you through every stage of the procedure – from filing your petition to making the truth for expungement in court. You deserve another chance, and a attorney will help you attain it.
