No one wants a criminal record; however, residents in Hawaii may find themselves faced with an arrest and conviction record that continues to follow them and impact different areas of their life. Removing your criminal history from the equation could aid in employment and residence options.
An expungement could help you remove arrests, non-convictions and convictions from your record. This could be a very beneficial step to take, making it imperative to understand if this is an option available to you.
What is an expungement?
In simple terms, an expungement is a process that removes a person’s arrest information from the statewide central repository that contains adult criminal history record information. For an arrest of a non-conviction, an expungement will also expunge the arrest record from the arresting agency.
Additionally, if an expungement of a conviction could be granted by the court. However, it should be noted that when this occurs, the arrest record for this conviction might still be available at the arresting agency. Furthermore, when an expungement is ordered, this does not remove or seal court records or traffic abstracts. To do this, another filing and process is needed to seal these records.
Expungements in Hawaii
In Hawaii, individuals could seek an expungement; however, for this to occur, the record must be eligible for expungement. In general, an expungement is possible for non-conviction arrests and for certain convictions.
With regards to non-conviction arrests, expungements cannot be issued for an arrest for certain situations, which are outlined in the Hawaii Revised Statutes section 831-3.2. For those seeking an expungement of conviction information, this is available for drunk driving convictions for those under 21, sentencing for first-time drug offenders, conviction information for first-time drug offenders prior to 2004 and sentencing for first-time property offenders.
An expungement of a conviction can only be granted by the court, so it is important to establish whether you qualify for this. Additionally, a legal professional can assess your record and help you understand if an expungement of an arrest or conviction is possible for you.