Pennsylvania ‘Clean Slate’ Law to Seal 30 Million Criminal Cases from Public View

The ‘Clean Slate’ law, passed in Pennsylvania in June of 2018, will see its first massive impact on Pennsylvania criminal court records over the next year.

From The Morning Call:

“Aimed at reducing the stigma that people with criminal records face while looking for jobs, education and housing, Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law expands criminal record sealing to more types of offenses.

Starting Friday, an automated computer process will begin wiping cases from public databases. These include charges that were dropped or where individuals were found not guilty, as well as summary convictions and other nonviolent crimes that occurred more than 10 years ago.

Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law is the first in the nation to automatically seal some criminal records via technology. The courts have a full year – until June 27, 2020 – to finish sealing all of the cases.”

The sealing of eligible cases does not, however, mean an expungement of past criminal convictions from a person’s record. While the cases will no longer be visible to public entities like Landlords and potential employers, all sealed case information will still be available to the police and law enforcement agencies. This as well means that all such eligible criminal cases will be hidden from view on all publicly-accessible case record systems in Pennsylvania.

The full text of the ‘Clean Slate’ law can be found HERE.

Questions?
If you have any questions about access to the Pennsylvania Courts, or if you would like information about any of our other products and services, contact us at customerservice@courttrax.com or give us a call: 866-643-7084 (Option 2).

More From Our Blog

Title Research Professionals
Tuesday November 28, 2023

CourtTrax Title Research: Housing Trends

New market outlook for November 2023 for Real Estate Agents and Title Research.

Read More

Close up photo of an Notary Public embossing.
Friday July 22, 2022

Congress Authorizing Nationwide RON

RON is a fully digital Notary process wherein the signer […]

Read More

Thursday June 9, 2022

Congress Moving Forward on Data Privacy

In a significant step forward yesterday, members of Congress released The American Data Privacy and Protection […]

Read More