Expungement of Criminal Records in Hawaii

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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.


In Hawaii, anyone who has been arrested for or accused of a crime but not convicted of it can request an expungement. The request is reviewed by the Attorney General or his representative and it typically takes approximately four months for a decision to be made. To be eligible for expungement, arrest records must meet the criteria outlined in Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 831-3.2.


Arrest records that have been expunged from a person's criminal history record are confidential and not available to the general public. Click here to access an application for expungement of criminal records in Hawaii.