Wisconsin Expungement Statute: Eligibility, Timing, and Sealing

To qualify for expungement in Wisconsin under Wis. Stat. 973.015, you must have been under 25 when you committed the offense, the offense must be a misdemeanor or a Class H or I felony, and the sentencing judge must order expungement at the original sentencing hearing. If the judge did not order it then, Wisconsin law does not let you come back later and ask. Once an order is in place and you complete your sentence without a new conviction or probation revocation, the record seals automatically.

The Three Conditions You Must Meet

Eligibility is measured against three gates, and all three have to be clear.

Age at the time of the offense. You must have been under 25 when the crime was committed. Age is fixed to the date of the offense, not the date of charging, conviction, or sentencing. Turning 25 before trial does not matter; what matters is how old you were when the conduct happened.

Offense classification. The offense must carry a statutory maximum penalty of six years or less. In practice, this covers all misdemeanors and Class H and Class I felonies. A Class H felony has a six-year maximum; a Class I felony has a three-and-a-half-year maximum. Anything Class G or higher is out, no matter the actual sentence you received.{¹}

A frequent point of confusion: the six-year cap refers to the maximum penalty for the offense class, not whatever sentence the judge actually imposed. Two years of probation on a Class H felony still qualifies by classification, because any Class H felony carries a six-year ceiling.{²}

Successful completion of the sentence. You must finish the sentence without picking up a new conviction, and if you were on probation, that probation cannot have been revoked. The expungement order the judge enters at sentencing is conditional on this. Fail either condition and the order falls away.

Disqualifiers Within the Eligible Classes

Even if you clear the three gates, the statute carves out specific convictions.

For Class H felonies, a court cannot order expungement if you have any prior felony conviction in your lifetime, if the offense is a “violent offense” under Wis. Stat. 301.048(2)(bm), or if the conviction is for stalking, certain forms of child abuse, or sexual assault of a student by school staff.

For Class I felonies, the bars are similar: any prior felony conviction, a violent offense classification, or a conviction for child enticement.{²}

A single prior felony, even decades old, disqualifies you from expunging a new Class H or I felony. Misdemeanors are not subject to these specific carve-outs; if a misdemeanor meets the six-year cap and you were under 25, it is eligible without the added felony restrictions.

Why the Timing Rule Is the Whole Game

Wisconsin’s biggest departure from most other states is when the expungement decision gets made. You cannot finish your sentence, build a clean record, and then petition a court to seal the conviction. The judge must include the expungement order as part of the original sentencing. Miss that moment and the chance is gone permanently.{³}

So the real work happens before and during sentencing. Defense counsel raises expungement, argues why you qualify, and asks the judge to put it in the order conditionally. If you are unrepresented and do not know to raise it, no one else is required to raise it for you.

Once the judge orders it, you do not have to do anything else at the end of your sentence. When probation or confinement is completed, the supervising office issues a certificate of discharge to the court, and that certificate triggers the sealing automatically. No petition, no second hearing, no filing fee.{³}

What the Judge Weighs

Meeting the eligibility rules does not entitle you to the order. The statute requires the court to find two things: that you will benefit from having the record sealed, and that society will not be harmed by sealing it.{²}

Judges look at the specifics of the offense, your background, and input from victims and prosecutors. A record of prior criminal behavior, even misdemeanors that do not rise to a disqualifying prior felony, can weigh against the request. The seriousness of the underlying conduct also matters: an offense that qualifies by classification but involved especially harmful behavior can still be denied.

Because the decision happens before you have had a chance to show rehabilitation, the weight falls on your history up to that point and the nature of the crime. The practical takeaway is that the sentencing hearing is where mitigation and explanation have to land.

What Expungement Actually Seals

When expungement takes effect, the court seals or destroys its records of the conviction. The case comes off CCAP, Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, the free public database most employers and landlords use for a first-pass background check. Only the case number remains visible, with no name or details.{³}

Expungement does not undo the conviction. As a legal matter, the conviction still happened, and several agencies keep their own records that are untouched by the court’s order:

The Department of Justice Crime Information Bureau (CIB) keeps its criminal history files intact.
District attorney offices and law enforcement agencies retain their case files independently.
The Department of Transportation is specifically excluded from expungement by statute, so driving-related conviction data stays on your record.

Those surviving records matter. A future court can use CIB data or law enforcement files to treat you as a repeat offender, enhance a sentence, or impeach your credibility at trial. Licensing boards and anyone running a CIB-level background check can still see the conviction.{³}

Collateral Consequences After Expungement

Private Background Check Companies

CCAP removal does not reach into the databases of private screening companies that may have already scraped your record. A 2024 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advisory opinion clarified that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, reporting an expunged or sealed record in a consumer report violates FCRA Section 607(b).{⁴} If an expunged conviction appears on a background check, dispute it in writing with the reporting company, attach a certified copy of your expungement order, and keep every piece of correspondence. The company has 30 days to investigate and correct.

Firearms

Federal firearms law treats expungement favorably. Under 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(20), an expunged conviction generally does not count as a conviction for federal firearms purposes, so an expunged Wisconsin felony should restore eligibility to possess firearms unless the expungement order itself expressly says otherwise.{⁵}

Immigration

If you are not a U.S. citizen, be clear-eyed: federal immigration law does not recognize Wisconsin expungement. USCIS treats an expunged conviction the same as an active one for deportation, inadmissibility, and naturalization purposes, and the Board of Immigration Appeals has repeatedly held that state rehabilitative expungements have no effect on immigration consequences.{⁶} Talk to an immigration attorney before assuming expungement helps.

Employment and Licensing

For most private employers who rely on CCAP, expungement makes a real difference because the record is no longer visible to them. Regulated industries read differently. Licensing agencies for healthcare, education, and law enforcement can access CIB files. Wisconsin’s employment discrimination statute requires a licensing agency that denies a license based on a conviction to explain in writing how the offense relates to the licensed activity and to allow the applicant to present evidence of rehabilitation. The same statute specifically allows educational agencies to refuse to employ someone convicted of a felony who has not been pardoned, and expungement alone does not override that provision.{⁷}

Banking is a cleaner case. Under FDIC rules implementing Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, an expunged conviction is not a “conviction of record,” so you do not need FDIC consent to work at an insured bank, as long as the expungement order was intended to seal or destroy the record.{⁸}

A Separate Path for Trafficking Victims

Wisconsin provides a different route for people convicted of prostitution who were victims of sex trafficking. This provision allows a petition at any time after conviction, with no age limit and no requirement that the judge have ordered expungement at sentencing. The court can either vacate the conviction entirely or order the record sealed. The petitioner must show they were a victim of trafficking as defined under Wisconsin or federal law and that the prostitution offense was a direct result of the trafficking.{²}

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 939.50 – Classification of Felonies
2
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 973.015 – Special Disposition
3
Wisconsin State Legislature. Expungement of a Criminal Conviction Record
4
Federal Register. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 921 – Definitions
6
USCIS. Volume 12, Part F, Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors
7
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 111 – 111.335 Arrest or Conviction Record; Exceptions and Special Cases
8
eCFR. Subpart L – Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act