Where can I find information about sealing, vacating, and expunging criminal records?
General Information:
- See Court General Rule GR 15, Destruction and Sealing of Court Records.
- See the online A Guide to Sealing and Destroying Court Records, Vacating Convictions, and Deleting Criminal History Records, located under the Informational Brochures heading on the Resources, Publications and Reports page of the Washington Courts Web site. This guide is also located in PDF format as an attachment at the bottom of this answer.
- See also: Determining if records are public or private.
Vacating Convictions:
- For courts of limited Jurisdiction: see the Finding and Judgment Processing/Vacation of Conviction section of the Online Manual.
- For superior courts: see the Criminal/Juvenile Offender Case Resolution and Completion/Vacating Convictions section of the Online Manual.
Sealing:
- For superior courts and courts of limited jurisdiction: see the Sealed Cases topic of the Online Manual.
Expunging:
There is NO statutory authority for expunging criminal cases except for certain juvenile diversions. See the following sections of the online manual:
- For courts of limited jurisdiction:
Expunge Party (EXP) Screen (Court of Limited Jurisdiction). - For superior courts:
- Expunge a Party (Superior Courts).
- Expunge Case Command section of the SCOMIS Commands chapter.
- Expunge Case - Odyssey Manual
- Expunge Truancy Case Parent Eligibility Report.
- Records Management - Destroy Records Screen (DST). This chapter addresses destruction of juvenile referrals in the Juvenile and Corrections System (JCS).
RN id 1501