Bill > H1270

This bill aims to expand the ability to expunge, meaning permanently erase or destroy, criminal and delinquency records for certain individuals. It introduces a new section allowing courts to order the expungement of records maintained by the department of criminal justice information services, the probation department, and the sex offender registry if a person is found to have been falsely accused due to identification errors, fraud on the court, or negligence by law enforcement or court staff. This expungement would also extend to records held by other state, municipal, or local agencies, and individuals could answer "no record" to inquiries about expunged charges. Additionally, the bill amends existing law to allow individuals adjudicated as youthful offenders to request their criminal court appearance and disposition records be sealed by the commissioner of probation after five years, provided they have no subsequent criminal convictions within that period. These sealed records would generally not disqualify individuals for public employment or be used against them in court, with exceptions for sentencing in subsequent offenses. Finally, the bill mandates that records sealed by the commissioner of probation will be automatically expunged five years after sealing, or ten years from a person's eighteenth birthday if they were eligible for sealing but did not petition for it, with similar provisions for answering "no record" in employment applications.