Sealing and Expunging Records
WRITTEN NOTICE REGARDING SEALING AND EXPUNGEMENT OF RECORDS
Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code, 2151.356 (D) (2) and Juvenile Rule 34 (J)
Because you were charged with an offense as a juvenile, Ohio law may allow you to have your juvenile record sealed and/or expunged. If your offense was aggravated murder, murder, or rape, your record cannot be sealed. The following is an explanation of the process that you must follow to seal or expunge eligible records.
- You may apply to this Juvenile Court for an order to seal your records six months after any order made by the Court has ended. If you have been placed in a juvenile institution or other facility, you may not apply until six months after you have received an unconditional discharge from the institution or facility.
- “Seal a record” means to remove a record from the main file of similar records and to secure it in a separate file that contains only sealed records accessible to the Juvenile Court subject to review only under limited circumstances.
- Applying to seal your record doesn’t automatically mean that it will be sealed. The Juvenile Court must find that you have been rehabilitated to a satisfactory degree.
- If your record is sealed by the Juvenile Court and someone asks you if you have a record, you may properly reply that no record exists. If asked, the Court will also reply that no record exists.
- After your record has been sealed, your record will automatically be expunged after a period of 5 years or when you reach age 23, whichever occurs sooner. You may apply to the Juvenile Court to have your sealed record expunged sooner.
- How is “expunging a record” different than “sealing a record”? Expunge a record means to destroy, delete, and erase a record, as appropriate for the record’s physical or electronic form or characteristic, so that the record is permanently irretrievable.
- You may obtain, an application to seal or expunge your record from The Clerk of Court’s kiosk, located at 110 Central Plaza South, Canton Ohio 44702, Suite 690.
- You may wish to read portions of the Ohio Revised Code, 2151.355; 2151.356; 2151.357 and 2151.358 for further details, available at most libraries or on-line at: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/.