For millions of Americans, the thought of criminal records making their life more difficult is a very real fear. If you’ve ever been convicted of a crime, there’s a good chance that you’re one of those people. It can be incredibly stressful to exist in our society with a criminal record. Sometimes it even makes you wonder how you’re going to be able to find your next job, and thus, how you’re going to feed your family. If you’re worried about this, there’s probably a good chance that you want to know of a good way to hide your criminal records. While there is no surefire way to get rid of your criminal records, we can go over a few commonly used methods that many find helpful.
Why do People Have Criminal Records?
If you’re reading this article as someone who doesn’t have a criminal record, you may be wondering how or why anyone has a criminal record. For the everyday Jane or Joe that has never had an interaction with the criminal justice system, this can come off as more than a little confusing.
You see, criminal records are created when someone commits a crime and is then prosecuted and convicted for said crime. There are many laws that can be broken in our country, and those laws can vary greatly from state to state. The offense can be considered anything from a misdemeanor to a felony. Most states have different levels of both for different severities of crime.
Because of the way our country is structured, everyone that is charged with a crime is entitled to a fair and just trial, as well as a lawyer. You’ve probably seen the whole spiel in law shows or movies. While courtroom dramas are usually wrong, that’s one of the few things that they got right. Because of this system of checks and balances, it’s also important to have a sort of criminal record for those that were actually convicted.
How a Criminal Record Can Affect Your Life
Once someone is convicted of a crime, their life changes drastically immediately. First, they’re hauled off to some jail or prison to serve their time. Sentencing can vary by crime and state, but typically a sentence can be as little as a couple of weeks and as long as a life sentence. Life sentences are a little tricky because, depending on the state, the inmate has a chance to parole after 15 years. In some states, depending on the infraction, the criminal can be executed for their crimes.
That’s just going over the basic ways someone’s life changes right after they’re convicted, but how will their life change once they’ve served their sentence? It depends a lot, especially by state, but generally, if they were only charged with a misdemeanor, their life won’t change much. They’ll only have trouble getting jobs if their charge could indicate that they wouldn’t be good for the field, as someone with a fraud charge processing credit card numbers, but other than that, they can expect to live a normal life.
Things get a lot more complicated for those that were convicted of felonies. In most states, a felony bars someone from owning a firearm or voting. Right off the bat, the second they walk out of prison, they are no longer allowed either of those things.
Felons also often have a harder time finding gainful employment because employers are allowed to not hire based on that. It makes sense from a legal standpoint. If an employer hires a violent felon, they could be held responsible if they act violently. That being said, the charge doesn’t matter. A felony is a felony, and any job can deny a felon a position entirely based on their criminal record.
The specifics for these kinds of complications can vary depending on which state you’re looking at, but in general, felons do have a lot of issues once they get out. If the felon was released on parole, they also have to report to a parole officer occasionally. That involves a short chat about their job and possibly a drug test. It depends on the conditions of their parole and what state they live in.
How to Hide Your Criminal Record
Neither of the methods that we’re going to be looking at is the be-all-end-all of hiding your criminal record, and one of them does require a prerequisite. It’s not easy to hide your criminal record, and it can take some time, dedication, and an advanced understanding of the legal system to get accomplished.
We’re going to be taking a look at how to hide your criminal record on two fronts. The first we’ll be taking a look at is personal background check services, which are services that can pull up people’s background information from anywhere in the country. The second thing we’ll be looking at here is figuring out how to hide your criminal record on a government level.
Personal background check services, as we mentioned, are private companies that can pull information about anyone’s background from public records databases all over the country. If your neighbor, for instance, wanted to find out about your criminal record, this is the path they would take. It’s actually a rather easy method, all they need is your name and they can find your criminal record, arrest record, court record, driving record, active warrants, address, and even your phone number instantly.
It may sound like this would be the more difficult thing to hide your criminal record from, but it’s actually pretty simple. The biggest issue with trying to hide your information from personal background check services is that they’re like a hydra. Once you deal with one, you’ll notice three more that you need to take care of. Anyway, all you need to do for this one is contact the company and tell them to take your information off of their website.
By law, if you don’t want your information listed on their website and you notify them of this, they have to remove it. The biggest issue you’ll run into is the sheer number of personal background check services that exist on the internet. There are a lot of them, and you will need to contact each one individually if you want to get your information removed from every single website.
Once you’ve done this, your nosey neighbor will no longer be able to pull up your criminal record on a whim. But what if you’re less concerned about nosey neighbors and more concerned about people that have access to more information than that? Like maybe law enforcement, for instance.
Hiding your criminal record from law enforcement isn’t easy, but it is possible through a process called expungement. Expungement is the process of getting your criminal record sealed so no one can access it. Your criminal record will still exist, but it will be inaccessible by almost everyone after you finish this process.
Sounds great, right? Well, before you start calling your city or county to get the ball rolling, it’s important to be aware that there are some steps that need to be taken before you can even be considered for having your record expunged, and it is a very long road.
The exact criteria for an expungement do vary from state to state. In most states, you have to have finished up your probation and cannot have any active criminal cases against you. Depending on the state, you may or may not be able to expunge a felony. Many states require for a felony to be reduced to a misdemeanor before it can be expunged, which is a different process entirely. Some states also limit which types of crimes can be expunged.
So, your first step would be to check what your state’s requirements for expungement are. After that, you’re probably going to want to hire a lawyer. Lawyers are expensive, but they have the education to know how to do this process correctly. This is important because there is a lot of paperwork to fill out, and even one misfiled piece of paperwork can lead to your request being flat-out rejected by the court.
Making Sure Your Records are Inaccessible
Unfortunately, if you’re like millions of Americans, your criminal record probably impacts your life very heavily in a very negative way. If you’re lucky and qualify for the right processes, you may be able to have your criminal record wiped, which can improve your quality of life significantly. Whether you just want your past mistakes off your record so you can feel like you’re truly starting fresh, or you just want to make sure your nosey neighbor isn’t getting into your business, there’s usually a way to make this happen.
***SpyFly provides consumers affordable, immediate access to public record information. Federal laws prohibit businesses from using SpyFly’s service to make decisions about employment, insurance, consumer credit, tenant screening, or for any other purpose subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq.**
