Expungement in Milwaukee is available only to people who were under 25 when the offense occurred, whose crime carried a maximum sentence of six years or less, and whose sentencing judge specifically ordered that the record would be eligible for expungement at the time of the original sentencing. If that order wasn’t entered at sentencing, Wisconsin courts cannot grant expungement later, no matter how much time has passed or how clean your record has been since.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 973.015 – Special Disposition
Who Qualifies Under Wisconsin Law
Three conditions in Wis. Stat. § 973.015 must all be met before a conviction can be cleared.
- Age at the offense. You must have been under 25 when you committed the crime, not when you were charged or convicted.
- Offense severity. The crime must carry a maximum prison term of six years or less. That covers all misdemeanors, Class H felonies (up to six years), and Class I felonies (up to three and a half years).
- The judge’s order at sentencing. The sentencing judge must have specifically ordered that the record would be eligible for expungement upon successful completion of the sentence.
The third requirement is where most people lose eligibility. The defense has to raise expungement at sentencing, and the judge has to grant it on the record. If that didn’t happen, the statute no longer offers a path, and no later motion can revive it.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 973.015 – Special Disposition
The first document to pull is your sentencing transcript or judgment of conviction. If neither mentions expungement, the statutory route is closed. The main remaining option in that situation is a gubernatorial pardon through the Wisconsin Pardon Advisory Board, which is a separate and considerably longer process.
Offenses That Can Never Be Expunged
Even when age and sentence length line up, some convictions are permanently excluded. Class H and Class I felonies cannot be expunged if the person has any prior felony conviction anywhere in their lifetime. Violent offenses classified as Class H or Class I are also excluded, along with several named crimes: stalking, physical abuse of a child, sexual assault of a child by a school staff member, and child kidnapping. The statute defines “violent offense” by reference to Wis. Stat. § 301.048(2)(bm), which covers a broad list of crimes involving force or threat of force.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 973.015 – Special Disposition
If your case falls into any of these categories, no judge has authority to grant expungement, even where an eligibility order was mistakenly entered at sentencing.
What Successful Completion Means
An expungement order at sentencing is conditional. It takes effect only after you successfully complete your sentence, which Wisconsin law defines through specific criteria.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 973.015 – Special Disposition
- No new convictions between sentencing and the end of your sentence.
- No revocation of probation at any point.
- Every condition imposed by the court or the Department of Corrections satisfied, including community service, treatment, and financial obligations tied to probation.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court in State v. Lickes (2021) read this strictly. A judge has no discretion to call probation conditions “satisfied” if the record shows any violation, even a minor one. A documented condition violation from your probation officer can block expungement regardless of how well things went overall.
For fine-only sentences with no probation or custody, successful completion means paying the fine in full.
How the Record Actually Gets Cleared
The mechanism depends on the type of sentence you served.
Probation or Incarceration
If you served time or were on probation, the clearing is designed to happen automatically. When you complete your sentence, the detaining authority or your probation agent issues a certificate of discharge and sends it to the clerk of circuit court. That certificate itself has the legal effect of expunging the record. No petition is required.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 973.015 – Special Disposition
Paperwork gets lost. If you finished your sentence but the certificate was never forwarded, the record stays visible until someone fixes it. Contact your former probation agent or the correctional institution and ask them to issue and send the certificate. In State v. Hemp (2014), the Wisconsin Supreme Court confirmed that a defendant cannot be denied expungement because the authorities failed to forward the paperwork.
Fine-Only Sentences
With no probation and no custody, there is no detaining authority to issue a certificate. In Milwaukee County, you file Form CR-266, the Petition to Expunge Criminal Court Record of Conviction, with the Clerk of Circuit Court. The form is on the Wisconsin Court System website.2Wisconsin Court System. Circuit Court Forms – CR-266
You’ll need the case number, the exact charge, and the date of conviction. The Wisconsin Circuit Court Access system (CCAP) at wcca.wicourts.gov has those details. The information on your petition should match the court record exactly. There is no filing fee for the petition itself.
What Expungement Does Not Erase
The word “expungement” promises more than Wisconsin law actually delivers. Knowing the gaps matters as much as knowing the process.
Court Records vs. DOJ Records
Expungement seals the court file. A CCAP search returns only the case number, with no details about the charge, conviction, or sentence. For employers and landlords running a basic court-record check, the conviction effectively disappears.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice is a separate system. A court-ordered expungement under § 973.015 does not touch records held by the DOJ’s Crime Information Bureau. The DOJ has stated that a conviction “disqualifies that arrest for removal” from its criminal history repository, even when the court record has been expunged.3Wisconsin Department of Justice. Remove Arrest Information4Wisconsin Department of Justice. Wisconsin Fingerprint Record Removal Request Background check companies that pull from the DOJ database may still surface the conviction.
Private Background Check Databases
Commercial data aggregators scrape court records continuously and keep what they capture. An old entry pulled before your file was sealed can keep circulating. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, if an expunged record appears on a background report prepared by a consumer reporting agency, you can dispute it. The agency generally must reinvestigate within 30 days and correct or remove information that is inaccurate.
If an employer plans to make a negative hiring decision based on a background report showing your expunged conviction, the FCRA requires a pre-adverse action notice and a copy of the report before the decision is final. That notice is your opportunity to dispute the item.
Federal Consequences
Wisconsin expungement is state law. Federal agencies are not bound by it.
On firearms, federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20) generally treats an expunged conviction as if it no longer exists for firearm-restriction purposes, unless the expungement order itself bars firearm possession.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 921 – Definitions The same rule applies to misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. State firearm restrictions can work differently, so talking to an attorney before buying a firearm after expungement is the safer route.
For immigration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services does not recognize state expungement. If you apply for naturalization or another immigration benefit, USCIS can require evidence of the conviction even after the court file is sealed.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part F Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors Failing to disclose an expunged conviction on Form N-400 can be treated as false testimony and create an independent bar to naturalization. Any noncitizen with criminal history should get immigration advice before assuming expungement solves the problem.
Federal background checks for security clearances, TSA PreCheck, and similar programs also reach beyond sealed court records. An expunged conviction will not automatically disqualify you, but the underlying conduct remains visible to federal investigators.
Employment Protections After Expungement
Wisconsin law generally bars employers from discriminating based on a conviction record unless the conviction is substantially related to the job. The Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission has held that employers cannot rely on expunged convictions in making the substantial-relationship argument, because doing so would defeat the purpose of the statute, which is to let people present themselves to future employers unmarked by past wrongdoing.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advises employers to assess the accuracy and relevance of conviction records before basing hiring decisions on them and to avoid blanket exclusion policies that disproportionately affect applicants of a particular race or national origin.7U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Criminal Records
Free Legal Help in Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Justice Center runs remote Expungement and Pardon Clinics staffed by volunteer attorneys and law students. The clinics give free, confidential advice and help with Wisconsin expungement and pardon applications.8Milwaukee Justice Center. Services, Hours and Location
They are particularly useful on the threshold question of whether expungement was actually ordered at sentencing. Clinic volunteers can review your sentencing transcript, confirm eligibility, and check whether the certificate of discharge was properly forwarded. If no expungement order was entered, they can walk you through the gubernatorial pardon process as an alternative.