Why, in Florida, Expunging Your Record May Not Matter

Once again I am writing on expunging your Florida criminal history record. A quick review is in order. First, you may only expunge a criminal history if the charge was dropped, dismissed, or you were found not guilty and there are no other convictions on the record nor do they have  aprevious expungement.. That is it! There are other siutations involving a withhold of ajudication, then sealing for 10 years and then expunging. These are different and really are not pertinent to the discussion.

As a lawyer I always thought ( and actually still do) that the more a former criminal defendant can clean up his or her record the better off he/she would be. As such I always advise the expungment process either through retaining a lawyer (very expensive) or obtaining the materials from the website www.expungemyfloridaarrest.com (not expensive at all) and completing the paperwork by one's self. It really isn't all that difficult to do and an individual will achieve the same results. However, last fall I handled an expungement for a client who had been arrested for a felony that was subsequently downfiled to a misdemeanor. She had entered into a pre-trial diversion program (PTI) and completed the program without difficulty. The necessary paperwork was completed and the certificate of eligibility obtained from The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The petition was filed with the certificate attached. The judge granted the petition.

Good, right ! Well yes ,but a couple of days later I checked the public website and her name and case information was still there. I checked a week later and they still had not been removed. Upon making a few telephone calls I learned that budget cuts had slowed everything down. Yes, the judge had signed the order but there was a backlog and it would take some more time. Now, it gets better. I spoke to senior supervisor in the clerk's office who told me that she was of the opinion that an expungement is not as important as it used to be (not that her opinion matters). Why I asked, she responded that major coprorations and some minor corporations are purchasing  court records including arrest records on a monthly basis. As such they have the names, addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates and in some cases social security security numbers ( they are supposed to be redacted before being released) of individuals who have been arrested.

What this would mean is that supposed you are arrested, charges droppped and the record is later expunged. You apply for a job a Wackadoo Widget Company and the application asks whether you have ever been arrested for a crime. You check the "no" box. Wackadoo Widget Company does a background check through the F.D.L.E. and comes up clean. However, Wackadoo, always worried that someone may take a widget, contacts a company that compiles data on individuals (data mining). This company has copes of the actual arrest record, because they bought it prior to the record being expunged. Wackadoo then might deny employment because they think you lied about being arrested (you didn't, because once a record is expunged you can deny the arrest). They may even give you a chance to explain. But who knows what they might do.

I am still of the opinion that cleaning up one's arrest record is a good thing to do. If you are eligible for an expungement then by all means do not wait. For those of you wanting more information please visit www.expungemyfloridaarrest.com.