Expungement of Criminal Records in Alaska

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Area of Law: 

criminal records


A criminal record can be a bar to certain types of employment, licensing, holding public office, and even the right to vote. Most states allow for a process called expungement that will remove certain arrests or criminal convictions from the offender’s record.


Depending upon the laws of the state in which you live and the nature of the crime, you may be able to get an arrest or conviction sealed or erased from your legal record. After the expungement process is complete, you will not need to disclose the conviction on a job or school application, and in most instances no record of the arrest or conviction will show up during a public records inspection or background check commonly done by potential employers, landlords, and educational institutions.


An expunged arrest or conviction may not be completely erased, however, and ordinarily will remain an accessible part of a person's criminal record, accessible to certain government agencies, including law enforcement and the criminal courts. This limited accessibility is also known as a criminal record being "under seal." In some legal proceedings, an expunged conviction that is under seal may still be considered as proof of a prior conviction.


Alaska does not have a legal provision allowing individuals to expunge their criminal records. However, if the criminal record contains a mistake or resulted from misinformation, a request may be made to have it sealed. Under AS 12.62.180, a criminal justice agency may seal only the information that the agency is responsible for maintaining. A person may submit a written request to the head of the agency responsible for maintaining past conviction or current offender information. The request asks the agency to seal information about the person that resulted from mistaken identity or false accusation. To request that a criminal record in Alaska be sealed, an individual must complete the Request to Seal Criminal Justice Record form and mail it to:


Alaska Department of Public Safety
R&I - Quality Assurance Unit
5700 E. Tudor Road
Anchorage, AK 99507