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.

In Colorado, the process for obtaining an expungement is as follows:

1. Obtain documentation of your criminal record


2. Fill out the Petition, Notice and Order forms available on the Colorado State Judicial Branch website


3. File the paperwork with the Colorado court where the arrest occurred


4. Prepare for a hearing where a judge may ask you questions


5. Await the judge's decision regarding whether to grant your request

Citizens of Colorado may be eligible for expungement if all charges were dismissed or the individual was acquitted; no charges were filed in court and there is only an arrest record; the case was dismissed as part of a plea agreement and ten or more years have passed since final disposition and no further crimes have been charged. If a criminal record is expunged in Colorado, the record of arrest and/or conviction is erased and legally deemed not to have occurred. For more information on expungement in the state of Colorado, go to the USLegal website.