Let’s suppose that you would like to apply for a great job after a very long time, but you have a criminal record and don’t know what kind of difficulties you might face once your potential employers dive into the search. Before you apply for the desired position, it would be great to get your record copy before applying, and in doing so, you ensure you’ll answer the questions honestly. However, people who have such a history rarely avoid difficulties when it comes to employment acquisition.
Employers have every right to ask for your previous endeavours and ventures. In order to decide whether they would like to hire someone or not, their decision needs to be related to the job itself, which means the individual could become a liability when it comes to the position they’ve applied for.
We completely understand that, since nowadays everyone wants to hire people who don’t have a criminal background so they could avoid potential problems. Employers make check if someone has an arrest record in this site. It’s always good to know whether the document related to this sphere is completely accurate or not. For example, information stated in it can be inaccurate or incomplete, which could make the thing even worse than it already is.
An arrest can have multiple entries, or the information about being found guilty or about dismissed charges can be omitted – the list goes on and on. For that particular reason, it’s extremely important to try and update it, or simply do your best to fix it in order to avoid these types of problems.
Today we’re here to help you out – whether you’ll be doing such a thing for you, for someone close, or if you’re sitting at home and reading all this out of curiosity – by giving you tips for correcting mistakes on your criminal history in the best possible way.
1. Check everything thoroughly
Like we have mentioned, if you could get the copy of your record, that would be great. Now, well, you may ask: how can I do it?
There are certain websites that claim they’ll give you access to it, but we would suggest you to be on the safe side and request the copy from the institution under whose jurisdiction you were convicted. It’s important to know that the course of a process like this varies, so what you have to do is check with the police department or the court for further information on how to proceed accordingly.
2. Get an offense off the record
You can probably get an offense off the record by expungement. What could this be? It’s the process that clears the documented references of criminal convictions which were made before. You may also have them sealed – this means your record won’t be available to the public. Yet, don’t let that trick you, as even though it’s no longer available to everyone, it might remain accessible to certain officials such as prosecutors and also agencies that can use it against you if any new crimes arise.
It’s very hard to get familiar with all this and inform yourself on the matter, but a great way and place to start is RecordPurge.com. You should know that this process isn’t practicable for all convictions and that it might take some time until you actually manage to finalize it successfully.
Each state operates differently, has different requirements etc. Therefore, try to contact the local Clerk’s office, as they might help you determine what can be sealed or expunged.
3. Get familiar with the cases that actually can be expunged
Another great tip is to know what can be expunged or sealed.
Crimes like first and second-degree felonies, violent first and second-degree misdemeanors such as domestic violence, rape, or driver’s license and motor vehicle violations can’t be expunged. When it comes to some milder offenses, such a procedure is usually negotiable.
4. Being honest or not – make a wise decision
If you’ve been successful in clearing your criminal record, and you’re searching for a job, we think that it’s worth mentioning that you may expect an employer to ask you if you’ve committed any crimes. If the criminal record has been sealed or expunged, you can respond negatively and the chances to get busted will be really small.
Yet, it’s rather recommendable to answer honestly, as the potential employers have the right to refuse to hire you if they find out you lied. Also, if you pass the interview, get the job and they find out you were dishonest, they have every right to fire you.
However, please note that an employer can’t and shouldn’t ask you about charges, convictions or arrests which are expunged in case you decide to tell them the truth, as they are considered not valid or non-existent. This applies to charges where you were found not guilty, or which were dismissed, but unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to the cases when there are multiple charges for the same offense.
5. Finding an agency
While reading this guide, you could see that we’ve mentioned a clerk. After giving a final disposition and your copy of the record with incorrect information, the agency will have sixty days to investigate your cases and correct the criminal record where applicable and appropriate. The request must be submitted by saying you would like to correct the GCIC record – and please, do keep a copy of the request, as you never know when you might need it.
If they fail to correct the information or don’t respect the due date of acting within sixty days, you’ll have additional thirty days from the moment when the agency made a decision to file the appeal. The appeal has to be sent to the agency and to the prosecutor via certified mail or express as overnight delivery. Finally, the court can order a record being corrected within sixty days if they find it incomplete or inaccurate.
We hope that this guide has helped you in getting closer to know how you could possibly find the way to fix your record if it contains any inaccurate information which might make finding a good job or anything else more difficult. You have to inform yourself thoroughly, step by step, and arm yourself with plenty of patience, as it might take some time to get things right, but don’t let these facts discourage you – you can definitely do it. We wish you plenty of luck!