
This is not legal advice, but merely offered for educational purposes. North Carolina expungement laws are somewhat complicated and hard to navigate. Consult a lawyer about whether you are eligible for an expungement.
Expunction is the process by which you can remove arrests or convictions from your record. Until recently, North Carolina only permitted the expungement of certain crimes, based on age, and whether the person was an adult. In general, until recently, felonies could not be expunged, and criminal convictions of adults could not be expunged.
This made it very difficult for someone to clear a record, even if they made a youthful mistake that resulted in a felony, or in a misdemeanor conviction after the age of 18.
But recent changes have relaxed the requirements for a North Carolina expungement just a bit.
Let’s look at a few of the possibilities for expungement in North Carolina.
If the person was under the age of 18 at the time of the felony offense, the person must wait at least 4 years following the end of the active sentence, probation, or Post-Supervision Release phase. The person must also complete 100 hours of community service.
If the person was over the age of 18 at the time of the felony offense, the person must wait 15 years following the end of the active sentence, probation, or Post-Supervision Release phase.
To be eligible, individuals in either case need to have a clean criminal history from the date of the conviction that is being expunged, meaning no further convictions other than traffic violations. Convictions can be expunged 15 YEARS from conviction date or completion of any sentence, whichever is later.
To receive an expungement following a conviction, individuals must do the following:
An affidavit from the petitioner stating that there are no outstanding restitution orders or civil judgments arising from the offense.
Once the petition for expungement has been received by the court, the District Attorney has 30 days within which to file any objections. If no objections are filed, the petition will be approved, allowing convictions to be removed from local and statewide databases. See NCGS 15A-145.4 and NCGS 15A-145.5 for more information on felony expunctions.
Note that the law is somewhat complicated, and having had a prior expungement under certain other provisions of NC law may exclude someone from filing a second petition. In addition, other expunctions may be available in gang-related offenses, and for underage drinking.
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