Mired in a global recession, experts predict that the loss of jobs in New Jersey will continue at least for the next few years.
For applicants who have criminal records however, any criminal offenses on your record can ruin one's chances of getting a job or keeping the job they have. Employers now conduct random criminal background checks on present workers to thin the herd. Similarly, if you hold a professional license such as a C.P.A., RN or a M.D., New Jersey's licensing body can, and will, continue to monitor one's criminal record.
While a person cannot change the past, they can take immediate action to clear blemishes from their criminal record. The best way to achieve this is to obtain an expungement. In New Jersey, if a person has ever been charged, arrested, or even convicted of a crime, you may be entitled to have the records of that incident isolated or sealed by obtaining an expungement.
A New Jersey expungement is “the extraction and isolation of all records … concerning a person's detection, apprehension, arrest, detention, trial or disposition of an offense within the criminal justice system” (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-1). In other words, all records of most criminal or disorderly persons matters, as a juvenile or as an adult, can be made as though it never existed. This applies to arrests and even convictions for both indictable offense or felonies (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2) and disorderly persons offenses or misdemeanors (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-3).
The most common charges that individuals seek to have expunged in New Jersey are assault (N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1), shoplifting (N.J.S.A. 2C:20-11), theft (N.J.S.A. 2C:20-1), burglary (N.J.S.A. 2C:18-2), minor drug charges (N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10a4; N.J.S.A. 2C:36-2), and disorderly persons offenses (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-3).
After obtaining an expungement, one can legally answer “no” when asked by most employers if they have ever been arrested or convicted of a crime.
There are strict timing guidelines to file an expungement petition. If you have been convicted of a felony, you must wait ten years before obtaining an expungement (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2). For a misdemeanor, the waiting period is reduced to five years (N.J.S.A. 2C:52-3). A local ordinance wait time is two years. For arrests that did not result in conviction, no waiting period generally applies.
The retention of an experienced NJ expungement lawyer is strongly suggested to meet the procedural requirements of obtaining an expungement. Every NJ county prosecutor’s office has a unit specifically assigned to argue against individuals who seek to expunge their criminal records.
Call the Law Offices of Thomas Carroll Blauvelt, LLC at 1-877-676-7729 to speak 24/7 with an experienced criminal defense attorney who will negotiate with the NJ county prosecutor’s office and presenting your expungement petition to a judge in the most persuasive and effective manner possible.
Thomas Carroll Blauvelt, Esq., Managing Partner, Law Offices of Thomas Carroll Blauvelt, LLC, with offices in Edison, Bridgewater, Whitehouse Station. His 24/7 toll free hotline is open now at 1-877-676-7729.
“New Jersey Expungement, Employment, and You”