New Jersey Record Expungement
Your record is costing you. New Jersey law lets you clear it.
Every background check resurfaces the worst day of your life, to employers, landlords and licensing boards. New Jersey's expungement law (N.J.S.A. 2C:52) exists to end that. We determine what you're eligible for, file it correctly, and see it through to a clean record.
What Expungement Does
Legally, it's as if it never happened
A New Jersey expungement is a court order directing the agencies that hold your records, from the courts and police departments to the county prosecutor and the State Police, to remove your arrest, charge and conviction from public access.
Once granted, you may lawfully answer "no" when most employers, landlords and applications ask about the expunged matter. The record isn't physically destroyed. It remains available for limited purposes, such as law enforcement hiring, certain court proceedings and future sentencing. But for the life you actually live day to day, it is gone. Jobs, housing, professional licenses, volunteer clearances: the doors a record quietly closes reopen.
Expungement covers criminal matters: indictable convictions, disorderly persons offenses, municipal ordinance violations, arrests that never led to conviction, and charges resolved through diversion programs like PTI or conditional discharge. What it does not cover is Title 39 traffic matters, including DWI, a point we explain below because it confuses almost everyone.
Eligibility & Waiting Periods
When you become eligible under N.J.S.A. 2C:52
Waiting periods generally run from when you finished everything: sentence, probation or parole, and payment of fines. New Jersey has repeatedly shortened these windows in recent years, so advice from even a few years ago may understate what you qualify for today.
| Record type | General waiting period | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Arrest / charge with no conviction | None | Eligible immediately upon dismissal or acquittal |
| Completed diversion (PTI, conditional discharge) | 6 months | From successful completion and dismissal |
| Municipal ordinance violation | 2 years | |
| Disorderly persons offense | 5 years | Early pathway at 3 years in compelling circumstances |
| Indictable conviction | 5 years | Early pathway at 4 years in compelling circumstances |
| Clean Slate — entire record (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-5.3) | 10 years | From your most recent conviction or completed sentence; clears eligible records regardless of count |
Two things decide most eligibility questions: how many convictions you have (the standard pathway limits how many indictable and disorderly persons convictions can be cleared together, with exceptions for closely related "single judgment" offenses), and what the convictions were. The 2019 Clean Slate law added the 10-year full-record option for people whose records would otherwise be too long to clear, often the difference between partial relief and a genuinely fresh start. Marijuana-related records got their own expedited treatment after legalization, and many were cleared automatically.
Expungement Questions
What people ask before clearing their record
How long do I have to wait before I can file?
It depends on the offense. As a general rule: about 5 years after completing your sentence for an indictable conviction (with an earlier pathway available in some circumstances), 5 years for disorderly persons offenses, and much shorter periods for dismissed charges and completed diversion programs. Clean Slate expungement becomes available 10 years after your most recent conviction or completed sentence. An eligibility review is the first thing we do, because the clock rules have changed several times and the details matter.
What does expungement do for me?
A granted expungement removes your arrest, charge and conviction records from public view: court records, police records, detention records. For most purposes, including nearly all job applications, you may then lawfully say the arrest or conviction never happened. Limited exceptions remain; expunged records can still be seen for certain government, law enforcement and court purposes.
Can I get my DWI expunged too?
No, and the reason surprises people. Expungement under N.J.S.A. 2C:52 applies to criminal records, and a New Jersey DWI is a traffic offense under Title 39, not a crime. It never appears on your criminal record in the first place, but it also stays on your driving record permanently. The expungement statute simply doesn’t reach it.
Is there anything that can never come off?
Yes. New Jersey law bars expungement of the most serious crimes, including criminal homicide (other than certain vehicular offenses), kidnapping, sexual assault and other serious sex crimes, robbery, arson, endangering the welfare of a child, perjury and certain public-corruption offenses. Convictions for large-scale drug distribution are also generally barred. If your conviction is on the barred list, we will tell you straight rather than take a filing fee.
Once we file, how long until my record is clean?
Realistically, several months from filing to a usable clean record. The petition is filed in Superior Court, reviewed by the prosecutor, and decided by a judge, sometimes without a hearing if no one objects. After the order is granted, the agencies that hold your records need time to comply, and statewide processing backlogs have at times stretched that final step considerably. We prepare filings to avoid the errors that add months.
The Exceptions
What can't be expunged, and the DWI confusion
Barred crimes
N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2 puts the most serious offenses permanently off-limits: criminal homicide (except certain vehicular offenses), kidnapping, sexual assault and other serious sex crimes, robbery, arson, endangering the welfare of a child, perjury, terrorism-related offenses and certain crimes by public officeholders touching their office. First- and second-degree drug distribution convictions are also generally barred. If your conviction is on this list, expungement is not available, and any lawyer who tells you otherwise is selling you a filing, not a result.
DWI is not expungeable, because it's not a crime
This is the question we hear most. A New Jersey DWI is a traffic offense under Title 39, not a criminal offense. It never creates a criminal record, and the expungement statute, which governs criminal records, simply doesn't apply to it. The conviction remains on your driver history permanently. The upside of the same rule: a DWI alone does not make you a "convicted criminal," and it won't block expungement of your actual criminal record.
The Process
From record request to signed order
An expungement is a real court proceeding with a petitioner, a reviewing prosecutor and a judge, and precision is what makes it move.
- Build the record. We assemble your complete criminal history, every arrest, charge and disposition, statewide. Petitions fail when they miss a case the State Police file still shows, so we start from the official record, not memory.
- Verify eligibility. We map every entry against the statute: waiting periods, conviction counts, barred offenses, and which pathway (standard, early, or Clean Slate) clears the most, soonest.
- File and notice. The petition is filed in Superior Court and served on the required agencies, including the county prosecutor and State Police. The prosecutor reviews and may object, and if they do, we argue it.
- Order and compliance. Once the judge signs the order, we distribute it to every agency holding your records and confirm compliance. This is the step where do-it-yourself expungements most often quietly stall.
Plan on several months end to end. You can technically file without a lawyer, but eligibility analysis is where the traps are, prosecutors do object, and an order that's granted but never fully executed clears nothing. We handle the whole arc.
Find out today if your record can be cleared.
One free call. We'll review your history and tell you exactly what's eligible and when. And if the answer is "not yet," you'll know the date it changes.
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Legal information on this page reviewed July 2026 against current New Jersey statutes. Laws change; nothing here is legal advice for your specific case.