To get your record expunged in Pennsylvania, you file a petition in the county court that handled your case, serve it on the district attorney, and wait for a judge to sign an order directing every agency holding the record to destroy it. The process only works for certain kinds of records, so the first step is confirming yours qualifies. From there, you gather your case information and a current Pennsylvania State Police criminal history report, file the correct petition form with the Clerk of Courts, pay the county’s filing fee, and let the statutory timeline run. Straightforward cases can move without a hearing; contested ones get argued in front of a judge.
Confirm Your Record Qualifies
Most misdemeanor and felony convictions in Pennsylvania cannot be expunged. The statute limits expungement to specific categories, and picking the wrong path wastes a filing fee. Your record can be expunged if any of the following applies:1Pennsylvania General Assembly. 18 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 9122 – Expungement
- The charges were dismissed, withdrawn, or you were acquitted at trial.
- No disposition was recorded within 18 months of arrest and the court certifies nothing is pending.
- You were convicted of a summary offense and have gone five years without a new arrest or prosecution.
- You successfully completed Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD). The court cannot order expungement if the ARD case involved a sexual offense with a victim under 18.
- You are at least 70 years old and have been free from arrest or prosecution for ten years following your final release from confinement or supervision. The clock runs from the end of probation or parole, not from the date of conviction.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. 18 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 9122 – Expungement
- You have an underage drinking conviction, have turned 21, and have completed every condition of your sentence including fines.3Dauphin County. Clean Slate, Expungement, and Limited Access from the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania
- The person whose record is at issue has been dead for at least three years.
If none of these fits your situation, expungement isn’t available, but sealing may be. That’s a different process, and it matters here because a lot of people file for the wrong one.
Expungement Is Not the Same as Clean Slate Sealing
Expungement destroys the record so no government agency retains it.4Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Criminal History Record Information Act Sealing under Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law hides the record from public view but leaves it accessible to law enforcement and certain agencies. Clean Slate operates automatically through the courts, so you generally don’t file anything:
- Non-convictions are sealed 30 days after disposition.
- Summary convictions are sealed after 5 years if all fines and costs are paid.
- Second- and third-degree misdemeanor convictions are sealed after 7 years without a new misdemeanor or felony conviction.
- Qualifying drug felony convictions are sealed after 10 years with no new convictions, if the original sentence was under 30 months minimum or 60 months maximum.
Most first-, second-, and third-degree felonies don’t qualify for automatic sealing. Offenses involving danger to a person, firearms, sexual offenses, and cruelty to animals are excluded from Clean Slate entirely. If your record qualifies for expungement, file for it: destruction is a stronger remedy than sealing.
Gather Your Case Information and Criminal History Report
Before you can draft the petition, pull together two things.
Case Details
Your petition has to include your full legal name and any aliases, date of birth, Social Security number, the Offense Tracking Number (OTN), and the court docket number. It also needs the date of arrest, the charges exactly as they appear on the charging document, the final disposition, and confirmation that all fines and restitution have been paid.5Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. Rule 790 – Procedure for Obtaining Expungement in Court Cases The OTN and docket number appear on your case docket sheet, which you can pull through the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania’s website.6Lancaster County, PA. Expungements / Limited Case Access
Pennsylvania State Police Criminal History Report
Unless the district attorney waives the requirement, a current Pennsylvania State Police criminal history report has to be attached to your petition. “Current” means obtained within 60 days before filing.5Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. Rule 790 – Procedure for Obtaining Expungement in Court Cases A judge cannot rule on the petition without it. Order the report online through the Pennsylvania Access To Criminal History (PATCH) system for $22.7Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History PATCH Read it carefully against your case information. If a name, date, or docket number on the report doesn’t match what you’re going to put in the petition, fix the discrepancy before you file; mismatches stall petitions.
The Correct Petition Form
Pennsylvania uses two petition forms. Summary cases use the form tied to Rule 490. Court cases (misdemeanors, felonies, and ARD) use the form tied to Rule 790.8Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. For the Public – Forms Both are available on the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania’s website. Download the one that matches your case.
The petition needs a verification statement confirming everything in it is true. You can either sign a sworn affidavit in front of a notary or sign an unsworn statement acknowledging you’re subject to criminal penalties for lying.9Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. Rule 490 – Procedure for Obtaining Expungement in Summary Cases Either satisfies the rule.
File the Petition and Serve the DA
File the completed petition at the Clerk of Courts office in the county where your case was originally handled. You’ll pay a filing fee at submission, and the amount varies by county. Allegheny County, for example, charges $232.10Allegheny County. Cost and Fee Schedule Check your county’s Clerk of Courts website or call the office for the current figure.
If you can’t afford the fee, file an In Forma Pauperis (IFP) petition asking the court to waive it. The form asks about your income and expenses, and a judge decides based on your financial situation. The IFP form is available through the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
When you file, you have to serve a copy of the petition on the district attorney’s office in the same county at the same time. The rule requires service to be concurrent with filing, not later.5Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. Rule 790 – Procedure for Obtaining Expungement in Court Cases Keep an extra file-stamped copy for yourself.
What the DA Does Next
The district attorney has 60 days to consent, object, or do nothing.5Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. Rule 790 – Procedure for Obtaining Expungement in Court Cases What follows depends on that response.
If the DA consents or files nothing, the judge must rule within 14 days after the 60-day window closes. Straightforward cases (non-convictions, completed ARD) are often granted on the papers without a hearing. If the DA objects, the court schedules a hearing where you or your attorney and the DA present arguments, and the judge decides.
When a petition is granted, the signed Expungement Order goes to the Pennsylvania State Police and other agencies holding the record, directing them to destroy it.11Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Apply for Criminal Record Expungement If it’s denied, the record stays intact, and you may be able to refile later if you become eligible under a different category.
How Long Removal Takes and How to Verify It
A signed order isn’t the same as a cleared database. Plan on several months at minimum between the judge’s signature and full removal, and some cases stretch past a year. The State Police processes the order after receiving it from the Clerk of Courts, and every other agency holding a copy has to destroy its own record independently.
To confirm removal, run a fresh PATCH check after enough time has passed. If the expunged charges still appear, contact the Clerk of Courts that issued the order and ask them to follow up with the agencies still showing the record.
What Expungement Reaches and Where It Stops
Once your record is expunged, you can answer “no” to a private employer asking whether you’ve been convicted. Pennsylvania’s state licensing agencies also cannot consider expunged convictions when evaluating a professional license application. Background screening companies that report expunged or sealed records violate federal law, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and you can dispute the entry with the reporting company if it turns up.12Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting – Background Screening
A Pennsylvania order does not automatically clear FBI records. The State Police notifies the FBI’s Interstate Identification Index after processing the order, and federal regulations require receiving states to comply with the originating state’s requirements, but the synchronization timeline isn’t guaranteed.13eCFR. Part 20 – Criminal Justice Information Systems If your FBI identity history summary still shows the expunged record after a reasonable period, you can request a review through the FBI’s challenge process.14Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions Federal security clearance investigations and certain law enforcement hiring processes may still reach the underlying history; assume those agencies can see it and disclose accordingly.
Firearm rights are their own question. ATF regulations recognize a state expungement that renders a conviction void as removing the federal firearms disability, but only if the expungement order doesn’t expressly prohibit firearm possession and Pennsylvania law fully restores your right to possess firearms.15ATF eRegulations. 27 CFR 478.142 – Effect of Pardons and Expunctions of Convictions Federal courts have generally required restoration of all core civil rights (voting, holding office, jury service) before the federal disability lifts. Talk to an attorney who handles both state criminal law and federal firearms law before buying or possessing a gun on the strength of an expungement.