Expungement

Expungement in Minnesota is the legal process of sealing criminal records so they are no longer accessible to the general public. Under Minnesota Statutes § 609A, people who meet specific criteria can petition the court to seal their arrest records, charging documents, and conviction records. Once expunged, most employers and landlords cannot see the record, and the individual can legally answer "no" to questions about prior convictions on most job applications.

Minnesota significantly expanded its expungement law in 2015 and has continued to broaden eligibility. As of recent reforms, expungement is available for: cases that were dismissed or resulted in acquittal, stays of adjudication that were successfully completed, certain petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors after a waiting period, gross misdemeanors after a waiting period, and some nonviolent felonies after a longer waiting period. Certain serious offenses — including most sex crimes and crimes against children — are not expungeable.

The process requires filing a petition, notifying the prosecutor and other agencies, and attending a hearing where a judge weighs the petitioner's interests against public safety. Law enforcement agencies may retain their own internal records even after expungement of court records.

Expungement is distinct from a pardon, which is an executive act of forgiveness, and from a stay of adjudication (see mncrime.com/learn/stay-of-adjudication), which prevents a conviction from being entered in the first place. MN CRIME's data reflects publicly available court records. Cases that have been expunged may no longer appear in public court systems and therefore may not appear in our data.