DUI Expungement – Can a DWI Conviction Be Expunged?
Contents
Courts will only consider DUI driving record expungement following a certain period of time. Applicants may also be disqualified for expungement consideration if they receive any additional criminal charges in the interim. DUI record expungement is flatly denied to persons convicted of another criminal offense after being convicted of a DUI offense or serving their sentence.
What is Expungement?
Expungement, or Criminal Expungement, is a legal tool that can be provided to individuals convicted of specific offenses, allowing the conviction to be wiped from their criminal record. Expungement can be advantageous for rehabilitated individuals who are concerned about the potential detrimental impact that any previous criminal indiscretions may have on future prospects and circumstances, both personal and professional in nature. However, not only do the legal regulations governing Criminal Expungement differ depending on the nature of the criminal conviction, but also on the location of the offense. While certain criminal convictions can be easily expunged, other crimes are not expungable.
Submit Expungement Application
A petition to a court is frequently used to request that a person’s DUI driving records be expunged. The specific document to be provided, as well as the actions required for it to be processed, can differ depending on jurisdiction and circumstance. A petition for DUI record expungement will often comprise both an affidavit and a motion for relief. Applications are subject to judicial scrutiny. They may also be required to be presented to a District Attorney, and a portion of the application may be required to be signed by a court before submission.
Payment of Transaction Fees
In order for DUI driving records to be expunged, the application must be submitted with the required transaction fee. DUI driving record expungement proceedings may cost at least $100 and can cost as much as $400.
Processing Period
Courts will require the applicant for DUI driving record expungement to wait a reasonable amount of time before their application is reviewed for approval or rejection. The time necessary to process a DUI driving record expungement application varies depending on the jurisdiction and situation.
In general, expungements for a felony or misdemeanor DUI driving records might take up to 6 weeks to complete. A misdemeanor-level DUI driving record application can be entirely finalized in as little as two weeks. Meanwhile, felony-level DUI driving records can be accepted for expungement in as little as four weeks.
Wait Time for Full Effectiveness
After the jurisdictional body has approved the expungement of a DUI driving record, the applicant must next allow the record’s removal and deletion, or isolation, to be complete. When the court system’s documentation has been fully updated, the applicable DUI driving records will be effectively deleted.
In most cases, courts will update DUI driving records within two days. However, if federal authorities have any information about DUI driving history, effective expungement will take substantially longer. It can take up to 60 days for the FBI and other federal law enforcement organizations to fully update their data. The Department of Justice is an exception to this norm, as it typically needs a 30-day waiting time for expungement to take effect.
Understanding The DUI Records
As a result, DUI records can show that a person was charged and convicted for operating a motor vehicle on public roads while under the demonstrable and provable effect of an unacceptable level of alcohol in that person’s bloodstream, as shown by the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level. Specific Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) values are recognized as allowed or not allowable for driving in specific jurisdictions.
Jurisdictional setting for DUI records
In general, DUI charges are handled at the state level or below, rather than by recourse to the more broadly applicable and widely authorized federal legal system. DUI records are kept explicitly at the state or more local level, such as for specific municipalities or counties, as part of how DUI laws are applied to the US population.
Criminal justice system as setting for DUI records
DUI records may also be generated by and preserved for the broad sector of the United States legal system known as the criminal justice system, as well as in the context of municipal levels for legal processes.
As a result, DUI records should be highlighted as providing public notice and documentation of the occurrence of a criminal conviction being issued with reference to an individual who was initially simply charged with this type of conduct. As a result, one of the difficulties raised by DUI records, notably their status as a record of a criminal justice procedure, is their authorized public accessibility.
Public accessibility of DUI records
DUI records can thus be obtained through the efforts of anyone willing to commit some time and attention to researching the body of papers kept in the public record. DUI records can also be made more publicly accessible by publishing such convictions in local newspapers, as part of a wider strategy of making criminal convictions known to the public in order to keep people properly informed and reasonably equipped to defend themselves.
Use of DUI records
Due to the potential public accessibility of DUI records, such pieces of documentation may be relied on in order to provide employers with the ability to screen out, at their discretion, employees who have illegally committed instances of motor vehicle operation while under the influence of impermissibly high levels of alcoholic intoxication.
Expunging DUI records
People who want to clear their DUI convictions from the prospective coverage of criminal background checks may be able to have their records expunged. DUI records will thus be made inaccessible to all non-criminal justice system personnel, such as by being housed in a secure place.
