Clearing a Criminal Record in PA | Nicholas A. Frisk III

Last updated October 4, 2026.

A Pennsylvania record can follow someone for years after the case is over, in background checks for jobs, housing and school. The law offers more ways out than most people realize, and several of them were widened by Act 36 of 2023. How I handle criminal cases from the start, with the record in mind, is on the main criminal defense page.

How does clearing a record work in Lawrence County, step by step?

The steps, in order:

Get your State Police record. A check on yourself through the State Police PATCH site costs $22; one that needs review can take two to four weeks. A petition must attach a State Police report obtained within 60 days before filing, unless the district attorney waives it (Pa.R.Crim.P. 490(a)(3), 790(a)(3), 791(a)(3)).
Pull each docket. The UJS Portal shows each docket number, offense tracking number (OTN), charge and outcome; the petition lists them and whether fines, costs and restitution are paid (Rule 790(a)(2)).
Match each case to a tool. Use the tables below, and check Clean Slate first: the courts send eligible records to the State Police on a set schedule, and each court of common pleas issues limited access orders every month (18 Pa.C.S. 9122.2(b)).
Prepare the petition. The Lawrence County Clerk of Courts posts its own expungement and limited access forms, including ones for ARD and for withdrawn or dismissed cases; statewide versions are on the Unified Judicial System forms page.
File and serve. File with the clerk of courts of the judicial district where the charges were disposed and serve the district attorney (Rules 490, 790, 791). Here that is the Clerk of Courts in the Government Center, 430 Court Street, New Castle, open weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., described in what to expect at the Lawrence County Courthouse. The county lists $182 for an expungement, $132 plus a $50 DA approval fee, as of November 25, 2025.
The district attorney responds. The prosecutor has 60 days to consent, object or take no action on a court case expungement, and 30 days on a summary case expungement or a limited access petition. The judge then rules, or schedules a hearing, within 14 days (Rules 490(b), 790(b), 791(b)).
The order goes out. Unless the prosecutor consented, the order waits 30 days for any appeal. The Clerk of Courts then serves certified copies on the agencies named in it (Rule 790(b)(4), (c)(2)).

What is the difference between expungement and limited access?

Expungement removes the record. Limited access keeps the record but hides it from most of the public: it can be seen by criminal justice agencies and by the narrow group of others the law allows (18 Pa.C.S. 9122.1(a), 9122.2(c)). It comes by petition or, under the Clean Slate law, automatically.

The three ways to clear or hide a Pennsylvania record
Tool	Main cases it covers	How it happens
Expungement (9122)	Cases with no conviction; completed ARD; summary convictions after 5 arrest-free years; acquittals; pardons; age 70 with 10 years free of arrest	Petition; ordered at dismissal for ARD; automatic for acquittals and pardons
Petition for limited access (9122.1)	Many misdemeanors after 7 conviction-free years; some property and drug felonies after 10 years	Petition to the court of common pleas
Clean Slate (9122.2)	Non-convictions; many second and third-degree misdemeanors after 7 years; summary offenses after 5 years; some drug felonies after 10 years	Automatic monthly court orders

Who can get an expungement?

An acquittal on all charges from the same conduct now leads to automatic expungement "no later than 12 months from the date of acquittal" (9122(a)(4)). An unconditional pardon leads to expungement through a quarterly process added by Act 36 of 2023 (9122(a)(2.1), (a.1)). Nonconviction records can be expunged by court order (9122(a)(2)). A court may also expunge a summary conviction after the person "has been free of arrest or prosecution for five years following the conviction" (9122(b)(3)); most disorderly conduct citations are summary offenses. So may a person 70 or older who has been free of arrest or prosecution for 10 years after final release from confinement or supervision (9122(b)(1)).

Underage drinking has its own route: a person now 21, convicted under 18 Pa.C.S. 6308 for an offense at 18 or older, may petition once the sentence is complete, and the court "shall order the expungement" (9122(a)(3)), as described in what happens after an underage drinking citation.

After a successful ARD program, the judge who dismisses the charges "also shall order the expungement of the defendant's arrest record," after a hearing if the prosecutor objects within 30 days (Pa.R.Crim.P. 320). How the program works is explained in ARD in Pennsylvania. For a DUI ARD, the Clerk of Courts keeps a certified copy of the completion order for 12 years, closed to the public and used only if there is a later case of DUI following diversion under Act 58 (75 Pa.C.S. 3807(f)).

What is a petition for limited access?

Section 9122.1 lets a person ask the court of common pleas where the conviction happened to limit access to:

a misdemeanor not excluded by the exceptions, or an ungraded offense with a maximum of five years or less, after seven years "free from conviction" for any offense punishable by a year or more (9122.1(a)); or
since Act 36 of 2023, certain felonies after 10 conviction-free years, other than first and second-degree felonies: criminal mischief, criminal trespass, theft and related offenses (including felony retail theft), forgery and fraud offenses, a Human Services Code offense, or a qualifying drug offense (9122.1(a.1)).

Qualifying drug offenses are the charges explained in possession versus possession with intent to deliver. All court-ordered restitution and the limited access fee must be paid first, and the statute's exceptions are covered below (9122.1(b)). The district attorney gets notice and 30 days to object; if there is no objection, the court may grant the petition without a hearing (9122.1(c)).

What does Clean Slate do automatically?

Section 9122.2 requires limited access, without any petition, for:

charges that ended in "a final disposition other than a conviction";
a second or third-degree misdemeanor, or a misdemeanor punishable by no more than two years, after seven years free from conviction for any offense punishable by a year or more;
a summary conviction, five years after the judgment;
a "qualifying offense," meaning a drug offense under section 13 of the Controlled Substance Act without a minimum sentence of 30 months or a maximum of 60 months or more, after 10 years (9102, 9122.2(a)(1.1)); and
a conviction with a conditional pardon.

Restitution must be paid. Clean Slate has its own exceptions, covered below (9122.3), and an offense it covers can also be petitioned (9122.3(c)) when an automatic order has not come through.

How long you wait, by how the case ended (18 Pa.C.S. 9122 to 9122.2; Pa.R.Crim.P. 320)
How the case ended	Earliest relief
Acquitted of all charges at trial	Automatic expungement, no later than 12 months after the acquittal
Withdrawn, dismissed or another non-conviction	Automatic limited access once any restitution is paid; expungement by petition
ARD completed	Expungement ordered when the charges are dismissed
Summary conviction	Limited access 5 years after judgment; expungement by petition after 5 years free of arrest or prosecution
Underage drinking conviction, offense at 18 or older	Expungement by petition at 21, once the sentence is complete
Second or third-degree misdemeanor, or a misdemeanor with a maximum of two years	Automatic limited access after 7 years free of conviction for an offense punishable by a year or more
First-degree misdemeanor, or an ungraded offense with a maximum of five years	Petition for limited access after the same 7 years
Qualifying drug offense	Automatic limited access, or a petition, after 10 conviction-free years
Listed felony other than first or second degree (theft, criminal mischief, trespass, forgery, fraud)	Petition for limited access after 10 conviction-free years

A felony criminal mischief conviction, for example, is graded by the loss and is one of the felonies the 10-year petition reaches.

What does a cleared record mean for a job?

Section 9122.5 sets the rules. Unless a criminal justice agency asks or another law allows it, a person "may not be required or requested to disclose" an expunged or limited access record, and "may respond as if the offense did not occur." Expunged and limited access records may not be used for employment, housing or school admission decisions, except where federal law requires it (9122.5(a), (a.1)). What employers may do with records that are not sealed is covered in whether an employer can refuse to hire you because of an old conviction.

What changes the answer for your record?

Unpaid restitution. Every limited access route requires restitution to be paid, then the limited access fee (9122.1(a), 9122.2(a)(1)).
The kind of offense. Clean Slate's misdemeanor rule excludes offenses involving danger to the person or the family, firearms and registrable sex offenses, animal cruelty and corruption of minors (9122.3(a)(1)). A petition is barred for them only above two years (9122.1(b)(1)), so a misdemeanor simple assault conviction cannot be sealed automatically but may be petitioned. Summary harassment follows the five-year summary rule, which has no such exception.
The rest of your record. Any felony other than a qualifying drug offense, two convictions punishable by more than two years, or four punishable by a year or more rules out Clean Slate's misdemeanor rule (9122.3(a)(2)). Murder, a first-degree felony or an offense punishable by 20 or more years rules out a petition (9122.1(b)(2)).
What else was in the same case. Clean Slate skips a conviction if the same case had an offense punishable by five or more years, or an excluded one (9122.3(b)). Counts on one docket with one OTN count as one conviction, with a limit for dockets holding more than two felonies (9122.1(b.1), 9122.3(a.1)).
A new conviction later. On the prosecutor's motion after a later misdemeanor or felony conviction, the court must vacate earlier limited access orders, except for charges that did not end in a conviction (9122.4(b)).
Who is asking. Sentencing courts, federally required checks, children and youth agencies, and custody or abuse cases under a court order still see limited access records (9121(b.1), (b.2); 9122.5(a)(2), (c)).
Drug charges that were dropped. Drug charges that are withdrawn, dismissed or end in acquittal are expunged as a matter of right, but only once, and not for possession with intent to deliver under 13(a)(30) (35 P.S. 780-119). That covers charges such as possessing drug paraphernalia.

A worked example

For example, take a hypothetical Ellwood City man (not a real case) applying for a job in 2026. A 2015 simple assault charge against him was withdrawn. In 2016 he was convicted of theft by unlawful taking of a $150 item, a second-degree misdemeanor, and paid restitution in 2017. In 2019 he paid a summary disorderly conduct citation by mail. He has had no arrests since.

Clean Slate should already have sealed the withdrawn 2015 charge (9122.2(a)(2)). A summary offense carries no more than 90 days (18 Pa.C.S. 1105), so the 2019 citation does not restart the seven-year clock on the theft, which is not an excluded offense; Clean Slate reaches it from 2023 once the fee is paid (9122.2(a)(1)). The 2019 summary conviction qualified in 2024, five years after judgment (9122.2(a)(3)).

His first step is a $22 PATCH check. If all three are gone, he may answer as if they did not occur (9122.5(a)(1)); if one still shows, he can petition (9122.3(c)). To have the 2015 charge and the 2019 citation destroyed, not just hidden, he can petition to expunge them in New Castle, at $182 each. The theft itself cannot be expunged unless he reaches 70 with 10 arrest-free years (9122(b)(1)). A second-degree misdemeanor simple assault conviction in 2015, by contrast, would have needed a petition.

Common mistakes when clearing a record

Assuming Clean Slate caught everything. A record the State Police find ineligible or cannot match to its data is dropped from the list (9122.2(b)(3), (4)), and unpaid restitution keeps a conviction public. Check your own report.
Filing with an old State Police report. It must be obtained within 60 days before filing, and the judge does not rule until it is filed (Rule 790(a)(3)).
Volunteering a sealed record. You may answer as if the offense did not occur, and an employer you tell voluntarily is protected from a claim over using the information (9122.5(a)(1), 9122.6(b)).
Paying a citation without thinking. Forwarding the fine without marking a plea records a guilty plea (Pa.R.Crim.P. 403(B)(5)), and that conviction then waits five years. The choices are explained in what happens if you ignore a citation.
Expecting expungement to erase every trace. The prosecutor and the State Police keep a list of people expunged after a diversion program, used for later eligibility, investigations and grading (9122(c)).

What to do this week

Order a PATCH check on yourself ($22), or mail the State Police access and review form ($20, not for employment use).
Look up every case on the UJS Portal and write down the docket number, OTN, charges and outcome.
Confirm that fines, costs and restitution are paid, and keep the receipts.
Sort each case into expungement, Clean Slate or a petition, using the tables above.
Download the right form from the Lawrence County Clerk of Courts page or the UJS forms page.
Budget $182 for each expungement petition filed in Lawrence County.
Do not volunteer old records on applications that do not ask for them.

Frequently asked questions

Can I clear a case from another county?

Yes, but the petition is filed there, with the clerk of courts of the judicial district where the charges were disposed (Rules 790(a)(1), 791(a)(1)), under that county's forms and fees.

Will a sealed case still show on the UJS Portal?

It should not. A court or the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts may not release a limited access charge to an individual, a noncriminal justice agency or an internet website (9121(b)(3)). When a petition is granted, the petition and the order are themselves placed under limited access (Rule 791(b)(6)).

Can a licensing board use a sealed record?

Generally not. A state licensing board may not consider expunged or limited access convictions, summary convictions, pardoned convictions, or arrests that did not lead to a conviction (9124(b)). Boards under the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs also follow rules in Title 63 (9124(a.1)).

What if only some charges in my case were dismissed?

The dismissed charges are non-convictions and fall under Clean Slate. The convictions in the same case stay public unless they qualify on their own, and the Clerk of Courts may not refuse access to them because other charges were sealed (9121(b)(3)).

Can a DUI come off my record?

A completed DUI ARD is expunged, apart from the 12-year completion order. A DUI conviction can be expunged only in narrow cases such as age 70 (9122(b)), so the question is usually limited access, which turns on its grade and your record since. A sealed conviction still goes to a court at sentencing (9122.5(c)), and a prior DUI raises the penalties, as explained in what happens on a second DUI.

A record is easiest to protect while the case is still open, through a dismissal, ARD or a lesser charge; the stages where that happens are covered in what to expect after a first offense. If your case is already over, I can review your record and tell you which of these options fits. You work directly with me, and the first consultation is always free and confidential.

Can I clear my criminal record in Pennsylvania? (expungement, limited access, Clean Slate)