Expungement is a vital part of the Florida criminal process that allows ex-convicts and people who were arrested in the past to put their crimes and alleged crimes behind them to start their lives fresh and new. This article will review what the benefits of expungement are and why you might want to try and apply for one.
Technically, expungement causes an individual’s convictions and arrests to be erased from the criminal record or “sealed” from view. The lasting effect of expungement is that the individual who had his records expunged will no longer need to disclose the fact that he or she was convicted or arrested in the past – or at least as it relates to the particular records that were expunged. This means that job applications, apartment applications, school loan/scholarship applications and other applications will no longer need to be marred by a blank spot on one’s criminal recorded that cannot be ignored. Furthermore, if an employer searches the individual’s criminal background, the issue simply won’t show up. Expungement is that powerful.
That said, are expunged records completely erased? The short answer: no. Expunged records will remain viewable by select government agencies. Furthermore, judges may be able to view an individual’s sealed records during sentencing to help make a balanced decision about the person’s punishment for a crime committed after expungement.
Are you interested to find out how expungement could help you get your criminal records clean? By reaching out to a Florida criminal defense lawyer such as those at the Florida Defense Team, you can learn more about your eligibility for expungement. You can also evaluate whether you want to go through with the process.