“It's a New Beginning.”
NJ Expungements of Criminal Records — An Overview
Expungement (or expunction) is the isolation of a criminal record so it becomes not publicly available. The New Jersey Criminal Code specifies the objectives of the statutes relating to expungements, including expungement of a felony conviction. The primary objective is to provide relief to the one-time offender who has led a life of rectitude and disassociated himself from unlawful activity.
Not everyone qualifies for expungement of criminal records. Whether or not a person qualifies to have their record expunged depends upon many factors, and combinations of factors. These factors are defined in statutes, presented in other pages on this site.
Why Have Your NJ Record Expunged?
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
Othello Act 3, scene 3, 155–161
A clean criminal record is an asset. A very important asset. It often determines whether an applicant gets a particular job. Getting a criminal record expunged sometimes determines whether a person who already has a particular job can keep that job, or advance to a better job. It can also affect decisions of professional licensing boards. In our increasingly uptight society, criminal record checks are required of nurses, volunteer sports coaches, day care center workers, persons seeking to be foster parents, or adopt children, applicants for a firearms permit, and persons applying for school positions, to name but a few. Expungements enable an applicant to avoid unpleasant consequences of past situations.
What Are the Benefits of Expungements in NJ?
Expungements provide three huge benefits.
The first benefit is that expungements result in the "isolation" of records of convictions. They also isolate records even of the arrest, regardless of whether the arrest resulted in a conviction. Thus searches done of official government databases, such as the courts or the FBI, will come back as “No Record Found.”
The second benefit is that once the judge signs the expungement order, the person whose criminal record has been expunged is legally entitled to state that the arrest or conviction never happened. Thus the person may answer confidently questions that would previously have caused embarassment.
The third benefit is psychological. The weight of the past is lifted from the shoulders of the person whose record was previously saddled with this blemish. As former client M.D. put it, "It's a new beginning."
About NJExpungements.com
This site provides information on expunging New Jersey records of arrests and convictions. It discusses, in considerably more detail, concepts touched upon on this page. This site will hopefully assist the visitor to learn the benefits of expungement of criminal records, as well as limitations on when records can be expunged. It will answer questions like these, and many more:
If you would like to expunge your NJ criminal record, Allan Marain can help.
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