After a person is arrested and/or convicted of certain crimes, he may wish to have the arrest or conviction expunged. To expunge a criminal record means to remove a record of arrest or conviction, photographs, fingerprints, disposition, or any other information of any kind from public access pursuant to the provisions of the expungement provisions of the state’s or federal government’s criminal laws. When records are expunged, they are not destroyed.
After an expungement, the records of arrest or conviction are confidential and no longer
considered a public record. But even if records of arrest and/or conviction are expunged, certain people or entities such as law enforcement personnel, criminal justice agencies, and prosecutors may still have access to those records in the event that the person is arrested and/or convicted in the future. But future employers will not usually be able to gain access to these records because they will not be available when one does a search of the public records. Thus, if potential employers or landlords do a background check of a person with expunged records, the employers or landlords will not be able to find those records.
Therefore, when a person completes an application for a job or for an apartment or house and is required to state whether he has been arrested or convicted and such a record has been expunged, he can answer truthfully under the law that he has not been arrested or convicted because the effect of an expunged record is that such arrest or conviction never happened. Stated differently, because an expunged record is confidential to the “outside world,” the person with the expunged record will not
generally have to disclose to the potential employer or landlord that the record that has been expunged. However, certain licensing boards for professionals such as doctors, nurses, dentists, lawyers, psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, emergency medical technicians, and professionals in financial industries will generally have access to expunged records. As a result, applicant in those fields will quite often have to report that they have expunged records. For more information on Expungements in DWI
cases in Louisiana, please see Bobby Harges, Louisiana DWI (Thomson/Reuters 2017)
If you are in need of a serious, aggressive, and experienced expungement, DWI/DUI, or criminal defense attorney in the greater New Orleans area, please contact Gaynell Williams Law at 504-302-2462. This information has been provided for informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed to constitute legal advice. Please consult your attorney in connection with any specific situation under federal and/or Louisiana law and the applicable state or local laws that may impose
additional obligations on you and/or your family member. © 2017-2020 Gaynell Williams LLC Attorney at Law.