What are the requirements to have my criminal record expunged for employment purposes?
Full Question:
I am a senior in college who will be graduating soon and applying for jobs. I am concerned that my record will be a burden for me if the jobs I'm applying for require a background check. I have an OWI 2nd offense and a public intoxication on my record. Do I have any chance at expunging my record?
11/13/2007 |
Category: Criminal ยป Expungement ... |
State: Iowa |
#12171
Answer:
The following is an Iowa statute:
232.150 Sealing of records.
1. a. Upon application of a person who was taken into custody for a
delinquent act or was the subject of a complaint alleging delinquency or
was the subject of a delinquency petition, or upon the court's own motion,
the court, after hearing, shall order the official juvenile court records
in the case including those specified in sections 232.147 and 232.149
sealed if the court finds all of the following:
(1) The person is eighteen years of age or older and two years have
elapsed since the last official action in the person's case.
(2) The person has not been subsequently convicted of a felony or an
aggravated or serious misdemeanor or adjudicated a delinquent child for an
act which if committed by an adult would be a felony, an aggravated
misdemeanor, or a serious misdemeanor and no proceeding is pending seeking
such conviction or adjudication.
(3) The person was not placed on youthful offender status, transferred
back to district court after the youthful offender's eighteenth birthday,
and sentenced for the offense which precipitated the youthful offender
placement.
b. If the person was adjudicated delinquent for an offense which if
committed by an adult would be an aggravated misdemeanor or a felony, the
court shall not order the records in the case sealed unless, upon
application of the person or upon the court's own motion and after hearing,
the court finds that paragraph "a", subparagraphs (1) and (2), apply and
that the sealing is in the best interests of the person and the public.
c. If the person is required to pay monetary restitution to a victim due
to a delinquent act and the restitution is unpaid, the records in the case
may be sealed, but the name of the court, the title of the action, and the
court's file number shall remain unsealed as provided in section 910.10 and
the restitution amount shall be a judgment and lien as provided in sections
910.7A, 910.8, 910.10, and 915.28 until the restitution is paid in full.
2. Reasonable notice of the hearing shall be given to the person who is
the subject of the records named in the motion, the county attorney, and
the agencies having custody of the records named in the application or
motion.
3. Notice and copies of a sealing order shall be sent to each agency or
person having custody or the records named therein.
4. On entry of a sealing order:
a. All agencies and persons having custody of records which are named
therein, shall send such records to the court issuing the order.
b. All index references to sealed records shall be deleted.
5. The sealed records shall no longer be deemed to exist as a matter of
law, and the juvenile court and any other agency or person who received
notice and a copy of the sealing order shall reply to an inquiry that no
such records exist, except when such reply is made to an inquiry pursuant
to subsection 6.
6. Inspection of sealed records and disclosure of their contents
thereafter may be permitted only pursuant to an order of the court upon
application of the person who is the subject of such records except that
the court in its discretion may permit reports to be inspected by or their
contents to be disclosed for research purposes to a person conducting bona
fide research under whatever conditions the court deems proper.