How do I get an expunction in North Carolina?

Most people often associate being convicted of a crime with spending time in jail. Although incarceration is a serious matter, it is only one of the numerous potential consequences that a conviction can have on a person’s life. A criminal record can limit employment and housing opportunities, tear apart families, and block a plethora of other benefits essential to being a productive member of society.

What is an expunction and what does it do?
North Carolina defines expunction as the destruction of a criminal record by court order. The main purpose of an expunction (also known as an expungement) is to restore the individual in the view of the law to the status that he or she occupied prior to the existence of a criminal record. An expunction allows the individual (with rare exception) to deny or refuse to acknowledge a criminal incident has occurred without committing perjury or being deceitful. The primary exception is for purposes of federal immigration.

What makes a person eligible?
Contrary to popular belief, opportunities to expunge a record in North Carolina are exceedingly rare. Generally, expunctions are reserved for first time nonviolent offenses committed more than fifteen years ago, first time offenses committed at the age of eighteen or twenty-two, or a charge that was dismissed or disposed not guilty.
Determining an individual’s eligibility for expunction of a conviction or charge in North Carolina often requires the utilization of two tools.

• Decision tree: This is a chart that separates each charge and ask a series of questions based on the charge. If there are multiple charges, each one is placed on the chart separately. The decision tree is split into two halves, on the left is if the person in question was disposed guilty of a crime and on the right is if the person is disposed not guilty or charges were dismissed. There are subsequent questions that follow each of the two headings (guilty or not guilty/charges dismissed).
• Automated Criminal Infraction System (ACIS): Accessing an individual’s eligibility for expunction of a conviction or charge often requires a review of the individual’s entire criminal record. However, it is common practice for attorneys to rely on an individual’s local Automated Criminal Infraction System criminal report because it is typically the most accessible criminal record report. A local ACIS report will only show the parts of an individual’s criminal record that occurred in the county where the report was created. This is problematic because it is not uncommon for an individual to have a conviction arising from a criminal incident in a different county that may affect the individual’s eligibility for an expunction.

Types of Expunctions
Currently, North Carolina has twelve expunction types and statues. Each statue has different criteria that makes an individual eligible to apply for that expunction. Most statues have an age stipulation that requires the individual to have been under the age of either eighteen or twenty-two at the time of the alleged criminal incident. An example of this, is the expungement for Misdemeanor Possession of Alcohol (Under twenty-one). The criteria for this expungement as laid out by its accompanying statue, is that the individual must wait two years from the conviction or completion of probation to apply for an expunction. Any misdemeanor or felony convictions during the two years after the alcohol conviction make the individual ineligible for expungement.

Some offenses are harder to remove from an individual’s record than others. In North Carolina, DWI offenses are an example of such an offense. The rationale behind this is because the victims of drunk driving cannot forget the pain that they suffered from DWI therefore, North Carolina ensures that drunk drivers have a hard time erasing the memory of their crime.

Process for Expunction in North Carolina
In North Carolina, there is a six step process for petitioning for Expunction of a criminal record. The six steps are listed below:

1. The attorney must obtain an accurate and complete copy of the petitioner’s criminal record
2. Upon obtaining the petitioner’s criminal record, there is a determination of the petitioner’s eligibility for an expunction
3. The attorney will then identify and obtain the corresponding petition form. After obtaining the relevant petition form, the forms will be filled out and completed along with any required supporting documents
4. The next step is to identify any county-specific procedures for submission and petition.
5. After the identification of county-specific procedures, there must be a determination of the procedures for review of petition.
6. Finally, there is a verification of an expunction order.

Each case is unique, however, the expunction process normally takes about six to nine months to complete.