Sealing Your Criminal Record
A Florida criminal record may be sealed pursuant to Florida Statute Section 943.0585. However, Florida Statute Section 907.041 provides a list of crimes that cannot be sealed. If the charges against you were dropped, then, you can expunge your record. But if the original offense was a violent crime or was a sexual offense, it will be more difficult to have the petition to expunge granted.
Expungement is the process in which a person’s criminal offense or record is legally “erased,” if the person was not convicted. Once the criminal offense is expunged, the arrest record for that offense will not be accessible to the public. Any inquiry into a criminal record will result in a statement that indicates that the person’s arrest record has been expunged. The only people who will have access to the sealed record are government officials as defined in the Florida Statutes.
