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Louisiana Expungement of Criminal Records

 

Criminal records are given to people as a way to help law enforcement agencies track people who have committed crimes to ensure that serial criminals are easier to catch and punish. Unfortunately, if you are just a person who has made a mistake that you regret, you will likely find that having a permanent criminal record follow you around is a lot more than you bargained for.

 

With a criminal charge or arrest on your record, you may be flat out barred from getting some jobs or obtaining certain professional licenses. Moreover, whenever anyone does a background check (and these days that can be potential employers, landlords, credit card companies, and more) they will see the criminal charge against you, and it will increase the likelihood of them turning you away.

 

This is precisely why the federal government chose to allow a legal process called expungement in the United States. With expungement, certain kinds of criminal records under specific circumstances can be legally removed from your record so that no one in the public has any access to them.

 

Every state has different laws governing expungement, and a few have outlawed it altogether, but luckily Louisiana is not one of those states.

 

How does expungement work in Louisiana?

 

By Louisiana law, any juvenile records that have been granted expungement are to be completely destroyed. If, however, destruction isn’t a possibility, the records will be maintained by the agency in possession of them, but no one is allowed to disclose them. A confidential record is also kept by the court, to be released only after the court has received written consent as outlined under Louisiana Children’s Code 920-921.

 

Any adults who were arrested but subsequently were not found guilty are also eligible to apply for expungement of their charges. In cases like this, the arrest records are typically destroyed – but not in the event of felony charges. Felony records may not be physically destroyed; instead, they are removed so that the public cannot access them and kept confidential.

 

The only agencies with access are Louisiana law enforcement agencies, criminal justice agencies, the Louisiana State Board of Nursing, the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners, the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychology, the Emergency Medical Services Certification Commission, the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, the Louisiana Board of Dentistry, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions. It is also possible, under Louisiana Criminal Code 44-9, that the Department of Public Safety and Corrections may also keep a confidential record of the arrest and disposition for investigative purposes.

 

What kind of files can be expunged in Louisiana?

 

There are a broad array of files and documents associated with criminal proceedings in Louisiana, and expungement allows for the erasure of all of them. For juvenile cases, these can include but should not be limited to:

 

  • Exhibits
  • Pleadings
  • Correspondence
  • Reports
  • Minute entries
  • Microfilm
  • Tape
  • Photographs
  • Fingerprints
  • Computer memory devices

 

For adult misdemeanor cases that are granted expungement, any agencies with records related to the proceedings must return any and all:

  • Photographs
  • Computer cards
  • Microfilm,
  • Tapes
  • Mechanical data
  • Electronic data
  • Fingerprints

 

For adult felony cases granted expungement, the files and documentation to be expunged includes:

 

  • All records of the proceedings
  • The judgment
  • The order
  • Any other action taken under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 893

Who is eligible for expungement in Louisiana?

The vast majority of offenders in Louisiana are not eligible for expungement. If a juvenile is over 17 years of age and was charged with a crime that did not result in adjudication, he or she may petition for expungement. Likewise, the misdemeanor adjudication records of a juvenile can be expunged after at least two years have passed since the time he or she completed all judgments. And juvenile records for felony adjudication can even be erased, provide the adjudication wasn’t for murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, manslaughter, or any sex crime.

For expungement to occur in these cases, at least five years have to pass after the individual has successfully completed all of the conditions required by the judgment. Also, the person in question may not have any criminal court felony convictions or any misdemeanor convictions that involved a deadly weapon, nor can he or she have any indictment or outstanding bill of information against them.

As for adults, it is possible to expunge misdemeanor charges so long at the time limit for prosecution has expired, and felony charges if the prosecutor in the case has declined to prosecute. However, it is not possible to expunge any offenses that relate to drug crimes.

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