DC EXPUNGEMENT
Eligibility
Types of Record Relief
Automatic
The court automatically seals or expunges certain criminal records if a person’s record meets certain qualifications. DC Courts have until October of 2027 to automatically seal or expunge old records.
Petition-Based
The person with the criminal record must file a motion with the court to apply for record relief.
Expungement
Expungement eliminates a record and restores a person in the eyes of the law to the status they occupied before the arrest, charge, or conviction.
Sealing
Sealing hides the record of arrest, charge, or conviction from public view but it still exists for nonpublic access only for specific purposes.
Who is Eligible?
Record sealing and expungement are now available to some people with old records, non-convictions, and charges that have since been decriminalized, such as possession of marijuana, street vending, and sodomy.
The Second Chance Amendment Act has 4 categories of record relief:
Automatic Expungement
Decriminalized offenses
If someone has been charged with a crime that has become decriminalized, legalized, held to be unconstitutional, or if they have a record related only to simple possession for any quantity of marijuana before February 15, 2015, that person’s record may be eligible to be automatically expunged.
Automatic Sealing
Non-convictions
If a person’s case was terminated and they were not convicted of a crime, or if a person has been convicted of a misdemeanor (for example, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, or simple assault) and 10 years have passed since the completion of their sentence, then that person’s non-conviction or misdemeanor conviction may be eligible to be automatically sealed.
Expungement by Motion
Actual innocence
If a person’s case was terminated and they were not convicted of a crime, AND if they can show that the alleged crime either did not happen or was committed by someone else, then that person may be eligible to file a petition to have their record expunged.
Sealing by Motion
Misdemeanor and felony convictions
If a person has been convicted of a crime, they may be eligible to file a motion to seal their record. For a misdemeanor conviction, 5 years must have passed since the completion of the person’s sentence in order to file a record sealing motion. For a felony conviction, 8 years must have passed since the completion of that person’s sentence in order to file a record sealing motion. It is important to note that not every felony conviction record can be sealed. Records of convictions of the most serious felonies (those in master grid groups 1-3) are excluded. But, if that person has additional cases on their record, those other cases may be eligible to be sealed even if their felony conviction is ineligible.