"Expungement" is the legal term for erasing a criminal arrest and/or criminal conviction from an individual’s criminal record. Some jurisdictions allow an individual who is arrested but not convicted to apply for an order of expungement. Other jurisdictions also allow certain types of criminal convictions to be expunged. If such an order is granted, the individual may, for some purposes, treat the arrest and all subsequent proceedings as though they never occurred.

An expungement can be very helpful for someone looking for employment, particularly for jobs that require certain types of licenses. If an arrest or criminal conviction is expunged, the individual may answer “no” when asked whether they have ever been arrested or convicted.

Not all arrests or criminal convictions are eligible for expungement. In many states, defendants cannot expunge felony convictions or convictions involving sex offenses. Juvenile and misdemeanor convictions are most often subject to expungement. In most states convictions cannot be expunged until at least a year after they occur, a year after probation is concluded and only if the individual is not facing any new charges.
The rules governing who is eligible for expungement, and the effect of expungement, vary from state to state.

California Expunement Code