AB 1009

This bill allows certain persons to petition a court for expungement of their

criminal records after completing their sentences. Under current law, generally if

a person under the age of 25 commits a crime for which the maximum term of

imprisonment is six years or less, a court may order, at the time it sentences the

person for the crime, that the court's record of the crime and conviction be expunged

when the person successfully completes his or her sentence, if the court finds that

expunging the record will benefit the person and will not harm society.

Under current law, a person successfully completes his or her sentence if the

person is not convicted of a subsequent offense and, if on probation, the probation is

not revoked and the person satisfies all conditions of probation. Upon successful

completion, currently the detaining or probationary authority issues a certificate of

discharge, which is forwarded to the court of record and which has the effect of

expunging the record.

Under the bill, if a court did not, at the time it sentenced a person, enter an order

allowing expungement if the person successfully completes his or her sentence, the

person may petition the court for expungement at any time after ten years have

passed since the date the person successfully completed his or her sentence. Also

under the bill, a court may enter an order allowing expungement upon petition, if the

court determines the person has successfully completed his or her sentence, that the

person has not been convicted of any other crime, and that the person will benefit and

society will not be harmed by this disposition.