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.

In Maryland, records that may be expunged include motor vehicle administration files, police files, court files, and police files. The process must be done through the proper agency, and no single process expunges the records from all agencies.

Many motor vehicle records in Maryland are automatically expunged after three years. Other records may be manually expunged, depending upon the offense for which the individual was convicted and the length of time since the person's last conviction. For additional information, contact the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.

Effective October 1, 2007, if a person was detained by a Maryland police agency but was released without being charged, records will automatically be expunged within 60 days after release.

Prior to that time, if someone was detained by a Maryland police agency but was released without being charged, records may still exist in police files. To get these records expunged, the individual should contact the arresting agency and request an Investigative Release Form. Expungement must be requested within 8 years of incident date.

Court records are not automatically expunged. To remove these records, a person may file a petition for expungement with the court if:

• He was found not guilty.


• He was found guilty of certain nuisance crimes.


• The charge was dismissed.


• The charge resulted in probation before judgment, excluding charges of driving while under the influence or driving while impaired.


• The State’s Attorney did not prosecute the charge.


• The Court indefinitely postponed the case.


• The case was compromised (settled).


• A person was convicted of only one non-violent criminal act and was granted a full and unconditional pardon by the Governor of Maryland.

To request an expungement in Maryland, a person must:

• Complete the Petition for Expungement and the General Waiver and Release, if necessary.


• File the Petition and all required copies.


• Pay the filing fees.

For more information on expungement of criminal records in the state of Maryland, go to the Maryland Judiciary website. The USLegal website also gives a full overview of expungement law in the state of Maryland.