Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act (CCJRA): Requests and Sealing

The Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act is the state law that governs two things: how the public gets access to records held by police, sheriffs, district attorneys, and courts, and how a person can seal eligible records so they no longer surface on standard background checks. If you are trying to obtain someone’s arrest report or clear your own record, this statute sets the rules.

What the Law Covers

The Act applies to every record a criminal justice agency in Colorado creates or maintains for law enforcement purposes.¹ It splits those records into two groups, and the group determines how easy they are to see.

Records of “official action” cover the formal decisions of a criminal justice agency: an arrest, an indictment, a sentence, a parole determination, a formal disciplinary action against someone under a criminal sentence.¹ These are generally open to public inspection.

Everything else falls under the broader label of criminal justice records: police reports, investigative notes, internal files. Agencies have more room to withhold these, particularly when release could compromise an active investigation or someone’s privacy.

How to Request a Record

Records live with the agency that created them. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation runs a statewide criminal history portal, but the CBI only holds its own records. For an arrest report, an incident file, or a case document, you contact the police department, sheriff’s office, or district attorney that generated it.²

Give the agency as much identifying detail as you can: full legal name, date of birth, case number if you have one, date and location of the incident, and the type of offense. Most agencies publish request forms on their websites. Incomplete or inaccurate information is the most common reason a request comes back empty even when the file exists.

Agencies typically acknowledge a request within three business days, counting from the next business day after submission. A request received after business hours is treated as received the following day.² Complex requests can take longer, and some agencies use a seven-day extension when circumstances require it.³

What Records Requests Cost

Fees vary by agency but follow a similar structure. The first hour of staff time to locate, review, and redact records is usually free. After that, agencies charge an hourly rate. The Colorado State Patrol charges $30 per hour for staff time, with higher rates when specialized skills are needed for redaction or production.⁴ At least one district attorney’s office charges over $41 per hour after the free first hour.³

Copying runs around $0.25 per page, and digital media such as a CD or flash drive typically costs $5.00.⁴ For a large request, the agency will usually give you a cost estimate and may require a deposit before starting.

When an Agency Must Redact or Deny

Some information has to come out of any record before release. The statute requires agencies to strip the name and identifying details of sexual assault victims from any record carrying a “SEXUAL ASSAULT” notation. The same protection covers child victims and child witnesses, whose names and identifying information must be redacted before public release, with narrow exceptions available only when a district court finds the public interest substantially outweighs the harm to the child’s privacy.⁵ The custodian has no discretion on these redactions.

Beyond mandatory redactions, a custodian can withhold records when disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. This applies mainly to investigative files, intelligence information, and security procedures held by sheriffs, district attorneys, and police. If a custodian denies your request, you can demand a written explanation, and the agency must provide it within 72 hours, identifying the specific law or the public interest justification behind the denial.⁶

Challenging a Denial

You can take a denial to district court by filing an application asking the court to order the custodian to show cause. The court schedules a hearing at the earliest practical time and, unless the denial was proper, orders the agency to release the records.⁶

The statute has teeth. If the court finds the denial was arbitrary or capricious, it can order the custodian to pay your court costs and attorney fees. For records of official action, the court can also impose a personal penalty on the custodian of up to $25 per day that access was improperly denied.⁶

Sealing Records: Who Qualifies

Colorado has broadened record sealing considerably in recent years, and the framework now reaches far beyond acquittals. The main categories:

Non-conviction cases (acquittal, dismissal, or charges never filed) can be sealed with no filing fee.⁷
Most convictions are eligible for sealing after a waiting period, including felonies, misdemeanors, petty offenses, and drug offenses.⁸
Arrests that never led to filed charges can be sealed by petition.
Anyone who received a full and unconditional pardon can move to seal those conviction records at any time with no processing fee.⁹

Unpaid court fines or fees are not a reason to deny sealing. The court is barred from considering outstanding financial obligations when deciding a petition.¹⁰ Unpaid restitution to a victim is different: the court cannot seal a record until the restitution order has been vacated.⁸

Records That Cannot Be Sealed

Some categories are excluded outright. Cases in which the only charges were class 1 or 2 misdemeanor traffic offenses, or class A or B traffic offenses, cannot be sealed. Traffic-related deferred judgments involving commercial driver’s licenses or commercial vehicles are ineligible. Deferred judgments for felony offenses involving unlawful sexual behavior are also ineligible.¹⁰

Watch the bundling rule. If a case has multiple convictions, the whole case can be sealed only if every conviction in it is individually eligible. One ineligible count blocks the case.¹⁰

Waiting Periods

For conviction sealing, the clock starts on the later of two dates: your final disposition or your release from supervision, whether that’s probation, parole, or another court-ordered program. Waiting periods by offense severity:⁸

Petty offenses and drug petty offenses: 1 year
Class 2 and 3 misdemeanors, drug misdemeanors, and level 4 drug felonies for personal use amounts: 2 years
Class 1 misdemeanors, class 4–6 felonies, and level 3–4 drug felonies: 3 years
All other eligible offenses: 5 years

These are minimums. The court still evaluates whether sealing is appropriate on the facts. If the district attorney objects, the court holds a hearing and weighs your privacy interest against the public’s interest in continued access.

Multiple convictions carry longer waits. Petty offenses stretch to two years, class 2 and 3 misdemeanors and drug misdemeanors to five years, and class 1 misdemeanors along with class 4–6 felonies and drug felonies to ten years from final disposition or release from supervision.⁷

Courts must weigh certain accomplishments in your favor. Successful completion of a veterans treatment program or a licensed substance use disorder treatment program are both positive factors the court is required to consider.¹⁰

Automatic Sealing

Colorado now seals certain records automatically, without a petition. A 2022 law extended automatic sealing beyond drug offenses to cover all offense types that would otherwise be eligible for petition-based sealing, provided the case isn’t subject to the Victim Rights Act.¹¹ The same law allows automatic sealing to proceed even if fines or court fees remain unpaid.

District attorneys can object to automatic sealing of felonies that are not drug felonies. If the defendant then requests a hearing, the court decides.¹¹ Automatic sealing takes time to process. If you’re eligible and your records still show up, filing your own petition is often faster.

How to File a Sealing Petition

File your motion in the court that handled the case. Cases in multiple courts require separate filings in each.¹² The Colorado Judicial Branch publishes self-help forms; search “seal” in its forms section.

Your motion has to list each records custodian who should receive the sealing order and identify the specific records. You also submit a verified copy of your own criminal history, obtained no more than 20 days before filing.⁸ The CBI recommends running a background check on yourself first so you know what appears and can describe it accurately.

The court reviews the motion for facial sufficiency. If it finds grounds to proceed, the case moves forward. If the motion is deficient, the court issues a written denial explaining why.⁸ You can only petition to seal a particular case once every 12 months, so getting the paperwork right the first time matters.¹⁰

If the court grants the petition, you receive a signed order. Send that order to the CBI at its designated email address to complete the process on the state records side.¹²

What Sealing Costs

You also pay for the criminal history report you file with the motion. Through June 30, 2026, the CBI is waiving its own record sealing processing costs for applicable cases.⁸

What a Sealed Record Actually Means

A sealed record is hidden from general public view and pulled from public databases. It will not show up on a standard background check. But sealed is not destroyed. Law enforcement can still access sealed records, and a court can order them unsealed in certain circumstances. That’s a real difference from expungement, which deletes the record as though it never existed.

On the employment side, federal guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tells employers to treat arrests differently from convictions and to assess the relevance of any criminal history to the specific job, considering the nature and age of the offense, the nature of the position, and giving applicants a chance to explain before any adverse decision.¹³ Once a Colorado record is sealed, it generally shouldn’t factor into hiring because a standard screening won’t find it. If a sealed record does surface, the legal protections around it give you grounds to push back.

1
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-302 – Definitions
2
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act Public Records Requests
3
Colorado District Attorney 23rd Judicial District. CORA and CCJRA Information Center
4
Colorado State Patrol. Schedule of Fees for the Provision of Public and Criminal Justice Records
5
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-304 – Mandatory Nondisclosure of Certain Information
6
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-305 – Allowance or Denial of Inspection – Grounds – Procedure – Appeal
7
Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – January 2026
8
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-706 – Sealing of Criminal Conviction Records
9
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-709 – Sealing of Criminal Records After Receiving a Pardon
10
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-703 – Sealing of Criminal Justice Records
11
Colorado General Assembly. SB22-099 Sealing Criminal Records
12
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Court Order Sealing of Arrests
13
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Criminal Records