If you have a criminal record, or even a simple arrest, it may be holding you back from your life goals. You may be ineligible for a job that you would like or you may have been denied access to a rental or mortgage agreement. If you are having difficulties in everyday life due to what is being seen on your public criminal record, you may consider expunging or sealing your records.

Step by Step

The expunging and sealing laws were created in order to make clearing a record accessible to the public. Therefore, so long as you qualify based on the description previously discussed in part one of this series, and you follow the guidelines, you should not have many troubles in getting your case expunged. The steps are as follows:

• Fill Out the Forms: There are necessary forms for filling out and filing to start the process. Each county has their own set of forms, which can be either generic or specialized. The proper forms that must be completed are the ones that belong to the county in which the charges were created. These may be obtained from a lawyer or the circuit clerk.

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If you have a criminal record, you may have discovered first hand how it can affect daily activities. A criminal record may prohibit you from securing gainful employment, it may affect your dating life, and it may even impact your ability to enjoy activities with your children. There are a wide variety of reasons why you may be interested in clearing your record. However, the question remains how one goes about removing those pesky details. The answer lies within expungement and sealing.

Expungement vs. Sealing

Expungement is a the legal process of requesting that a criminal record be wiped entirely clean. If a judge approves your expungement request, and the Illinois State Police are ordered to “expunge” your record, then the Illinois State Police and the arresting agency will either return the records to you or destroy the records entirely.

If, during the court hearing, the judge orders that the record be “impounded," then the result is a bit different. While criminal records will be unavailable to the general public, for law enforcement or criminal investigation purposes, the records will still be available. This is what is known as “sealing” your record. In this circumstance, only the arresting agency will return or destroy the information. However, the records will still be available to the Illinois State Police.

Everyone makes mistakes. Some mistakes can change the direction of our future and potentially haunt us for the rest of our lives. We may even look back after an incident has occurred and wish that we could erase it. Thankfully, the court system has the option to seal or even expunge records. Although these options may not be available in all circumstances, expungement and sealing records have given people a second chance at a better future.

What Can a Criminal Record Affect?

Aside from shaking your self confidence a bit, a criminal record can affect several aspects of your life. Even if you are not convicted of a crime, an arrest and investigation is still a matter of public record and can show up in any background check.

Areas where a negative mark on your background check can effect you include: