Being convicted of a DUI can affect your entire life. You may feel embarrassed by the charge, especially if your community and people you work with know that you were found to be drunk driving. You may also feel that the DUI charge could have the potential to affect your future career prospects or your reputation. For this reason, you may be seeking to have the DUI charge expunged.
Expungement is the process of removing an offense from a person’s rap sheet. It effectively makes it seem like the offense never happened. Expungement should be separated from the process of sealing since they are different.
Sealing means that the offense still exists on your record, but it is sealed, which means that the court file is hidden from view, and the general public will not be able to access that information. If you want to have your DUI expunged, the following are some things that you should know as a resident of Pennsylvania.
Who is eligible for the expungement of a DUI in Pennsylvania?
You only have a realistic possibility of having a DUI expunged in Pennsylvania if it was your first offense. This is because you must go through the Accelerative Rehabilitation Disposition (ADR) program, which is only available for first-time offenders.
There are also additional requirements to take part in this program: you must have received a charge or an arrest but no conviction.
What are the steps to expungement?
If you participated in the ADR program, you should not have a problem expunging the arrest or charge from your record. You will need to complete a criminal history request form, obtain proof of the ARD program completion, and requisition a motion for expungement through the clerk of courts.
If you have been arrested or charged with a DUI and want this removed from your record, act quickly to begin the process of expungement.