Criminal records are more accessible than you might have ever thought. A lot of people have gotten in trouble with the law at some point in their life and they assume that this will always be their little secret. Unfortunately, this may not be true. Your state criminal records can be searched by anyone, at any time, for just about any reason. This comes as a surprise to many who thought that their past can be explored by others.
The reason that your state criminal records can be searched by others is because criminal proceedings are a matter of public record. What this means is that with your name and your date of birth just about anyone can pull your criminal records and even see the court documents right down to the piece of paper that you may have signed with your plead of guilty, not guilty, or no contest. This seems like an invasion of privacy, but a lot of people pull state criminal records to protect themselves against people who are out to victimize them, so when you look at it this way, it is understandable.
The only way to keep people from seeing your state criminal records is to have the charges against your expunged. What this means is that they are wiped clean from your record so they cannot be accessed. The problem is that a lot of states don’t expunge certain offenses and others will only do it after so many months or years, during which time people will have access to your records. You will generally need to hire a lawyer and petition the court to expunge your records, so this is not a simple process. If you are able to do this though, it is a good idea, because you never know when that old charge against you is going to come back to bite you.
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