Effect of Expungement in

New Jersey

The New Jersey expungement lawyers at the Law Office of Katherine O’Brien are often asked by clients what the effect of expungement in New Jersey is.  Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:52-27, entitled “Effect of Expungement,” after a record has been expunged, the arrest and/or conviction “shall be deemed not have occurred.”  What is this means that is if you are ever asked on an employment application or any other application any questions regarding the offense, you are not required to reveal the expunged information, you will be lawfully entitled to answer “no” to any questions regarding the incident, and they will not be able to see your expunged records.

There are some limited exceptions to this general rule, however.  Those exceptions are as follows:

• If you apply again for another expungement in the future, you will be required to disclose whether you have had any previous charges or convictions expunged, whether in New Jersey or elsewhere and the courts will be able to see and have access to that information.
• If you had entered into a program of supervisory treatment or another type of diversion program, such as Conditional Discharge or Pre-Trial Intervention (“PTI”) and you had those charges expunged, you would be required to disclose the expunged offense to the court if you are applying for acceptance into another such program and the court will be able to see and have access to the expunged information.
• If you are involved in subsequent legal proceedings, your expunged record will be available for the purposes of bail hearings, presentence reports, sentencing, by the parole board, by the department of corrects, and for reporting to the Violent Crimes Compensation Board.
• If you are seeking employment within the judicial branch (the court system), with a law enforcement agency, or with a corrections agency, you will be required to reveal your expunged records and those agencies will be able to see and have access to that information.

Thus, even though your record has been expunged, the courts and law enforcement agencies will be able to see and have access to the expunged records in the limited situations described above.  What is this means that, when you apply to have your record expunged, your expunged records are not destroyed in the literal sense.  They are, however, extracted and then isolated so that they are not available for public view.  Thus, although the record is not entirely erased, after an expungement it becomes not available from government sources from people conducting background searched through the courts, police, and the FBI.

With respect to employment, so long as you are not applying for a position in law enforcement, corrections, or the judiciary, you will not need to disclose your expunged records and those records will not come up on a criminal background check.  Thus, whether you are applying to be a teacher, a nurse, a medical physician, an accountant, or any other type of job, you will not be required to disclose your expunged records.  Even if you are applying to obtain a professional license other than to practice law, you will not be required to disclose expunged records.

As you can see, the effect of expungement in New Jersey is great.  Katherine O’Brien Law offers affordable expungements to our clients.  We handle both simple and complex expungements in New Jersey.  We also give each case our utmost priority for faster processing time.  Schedule a free consultation today!