Sealing and Expunging a Criminal Record in Ohio 2024 Overview

Over the past five or six years, Ohio has made many changes to its expungement laws. These changes have helped the attorneys at Dearie, Fischer & Martinson attain expungements in many cases. 2018 saw some significant changes to the law. The laws have been continuously shifting, all the way up to October of 2023.  So now that we are in 2024, what are the requirements for expungement or sealing of records in Ohio? Here is an Overview of Ohio Expungement Laws in 2024.

Difference between sealing and expungement

First, we need to point out that there is a significant difference between the terms “sealing” and “expungement.”  When a sealing a record, the court hides the record from the public. But the court or certain other government entities can still access it.  When expunging a record, the court destroys the record and it no longer exists as an official court document. Before 2023, true expungement was common in juvenile courts but virtually unheard of for adult criminal records.  Therefore, many members of the legal community often used the two terms interchangeably, and when someone talked about “expungement” in adult court, it usually meant sealing.  However, in April 2023, a new law made actual expungement possible for several types of adult records, and Ohio enacted an even newer revision of the law in October of 2023.  This is good news for Ohioans with criminal records as it opened more possibilities to clean up their records.  But with this change, it has become more pertinent than ever to clarify when we are talking about sealing and when we are talking about expunging a criminal record.

What are the requirements for sealing or expunging a criminal record?

In Ohio, the requirements for sealing and expunging a criminal record are similar in that they both require two things: that the offense be an eligible offense and that the offender be an eligible offender.  We talk more about what that means below.  The requirements for sealing are different from the requirements for expungement in a number of ways. One of the main differences is that the waiting period for expunging a record is usually longer than the waiting period for sealing.  We also break down the waiting periods for sealing and expungement below.  

Eligible Offense for Sealing in Ohio

Section 2953.32 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) excludes certain crimes from sealing or expungement.  Any offense mentioned on this list of excluded crimes is ineligible for expungement.  Here are some (but not all) crimes that are ineligible for sealing in Ohio:  any traffic violation, including OVI, felonies of the first or second degree, most crimes when the victim is 13 years of age, most domestic violence convictions, and other various offenses.  

Eligible offense for Expungement in Ohio

For the most part, the ORC excludes the same crimes for expungement as it does from sealing.  An offense can be eligible for sealing but not expungement. There are a number of reasons for that. Sometimes, the waiting period for sealing is up, but not expungement.  There are exceptions to this, however.  For example, a fourth degree misdemeanor of domestic violence is a special case. They cannot be expunged even though they can be sealed.

Eligible offender for sealing in Ohio

Even if you try to expunge an eligible offense in Ohio, it is possible that you are not an eligible offender, which means there are other crimes on your record that disqualify you from getting otherwise eligible offenses sealed or expunged.  Whether or not your record is eligible can be rather complex. Factors that affect your eligibility include but are not limited to: how many other crimes are on your record, the seriousness of other crimes on your record, whether you have multiple convictions from the same offense, etc.  If you are unsure about your eligibility, feel free to contact the attorneys at Dearie, Fischer & Martinson.

Eligible Offender for Expungement in Ohio

For many offenses, if you are eligible for sealing in Ohio, you will become eligible for expungement after the applicable waiting period. This is certainly not always the case. Regardless, it can be helpful to know the different waiting periods which we detail below.

Waiting periods for sealing and expungement in Ohio

This Overview of Ohio Expungement Laws in 2024 would not be complete without an explicit detailing of the waiting periods.

The waiting periods for sealing criminal records in Ohio are rather complicated. Especially when it comes to felonies of the third degree, the waiting periods have very technical rules.

The waiting periods for expungement are a little less complicated. However, they often begin once the record is sealed. Therefore, in order to know how long it takes to expunge a given record, you also need to know how long it would take to seal that record.

Conclusion

We hope this Overview of Ohio Expungement Laws in 2024 is helpful. Even though expungement laws in Ohio are more lenient than ever before, we know they can be complicated.  If you have questions regarding your record in Ohio or need legal assistance in your application process, the lawyers at Dearie, Fischer & Martinson are ready to help.  Contact our expert attorneys today!