In June 2019, Pennsylvania began implementing a law signed by Governor Wolf last year designed to prevent public access to certain non-violent, older criminal convictions. The “Clean Slate Law” automatically (yes, automatically) removes from public databases court records in cases in which individuals were found not guilty, or were found or pleaded guilty to summary offenses and other lower level, non-violent crimes that occurred more than 10 years ago. Under the law, individuals do not need to petition the courts in order to have their records removed. The records of summary offenses and second and third degree misdemeanors will be erased from public search sites, but only if the individual has not been convicted of a crime for at least 10 years, and has paid all fines and costs associated with the underlying case.

Before the Clean Slate Law took effect, courts published entire court dockets for all court dockets. Those cases will no longer be available on such sites. To the naked eye, they do not exist. The criminal dockets will not disappear, however. They have not been expunged. Law enforcement personnel will still be able see, and use, those convictions and non-convictions.  The public, however, will not. Indeed, for those affected offenses, the law permits a person to tell most non-governmental potential employers and landlords that those convictions do not exist. The same is true for certain professional licensing applications (i.e., barber, nursing, real estate). For convictions that qualify under the new law, an applicant may honestly answer “no” to the question “have you ever been arrested”.

The Clean Slate Law is closely related to last year’s “Limited Access Law”. The “Limited Access Law” seals from public view certain other offenses, such as Simple Assault and Harassment, which are not eligible for automatic removal under the Clean Slate Law, but nonetheless may be sealed from public view, so long as they adhere to the same requirement that the convictions be older than 10 years. Importantly, the Limited Access Law does not happen automatically. A person must petition the court for limited access to occur.

Pennsylvania’s law is the first in the nation to seal certain older criminal records available on public websites. While the convictions do not disappear for all purposes, the fact that the public can no longer access them is certainly a huge step to allowing certain individuals to put their past mistakes behind them.

Dan Bush is a partner at Lamb McErlane and chairs the Firm’s criminal litigation department. He has over twenty years of experience prosecuting and defending individuals charged with a crime. Contact Criminal Attorney Dan Bush at 610-701-3266 / email.