Expungement in New Jersey: how to clear your record

What expungement actually does

An expungement removes and isolates the records of an arrest, the court case and any conviction from courts, police departments and correctional agencies. Under N.J.S.A. 2C:52-27, once an order is granted the arrest and conviction are treated as if they never happened, so in most situations you can answer questions about them as if they did not occur.

There are limits. The records still exist in a sealed form, and they remain available to the judiciary, law enforcement and corrections agencies, including when you apply for a job with one of them. If you later ask to get into a diversion program, the court will know you used one before. And an expungement does not reach records held in other states.

Private background check companies are another gap. The Office of the Public Defender notes that companies searching by name and date of birth may still show the case until you send them a copy of your signed order.

The regular path and its waiting periods

Most people use the regular path. The clock starts from the latest of four events: your most recent conviction, payment of court-ordered fines and fees, completion of probation or parole, or release from jail or prison.

Unpaid fines do not always block you. If you could not pay for reasons other than willful refusal, the court can still grant the expungement and turn the balance into a civil judgment owed to the State.

• One indictable crime plus up to three disorderly persons or petty disorderly persons offenses: generally 5 years, or as early as 4 years if the court finds compelling circumstances and you have had no conviction since.
• No crime, only disorderly persons or petty disorderly persons offenses (up to five in total): generally 5 years, or as early as 3 years with compelling circumstances.
• Municipal ordinance violations only, with no crimes and no more than two disorderly persons offenses: 2 years.
• Several offenses entered in a single judgment, or closely related offenses committed over a short time (sometimes called a crime spree), can be treated as one for these limits.

Clean Slate: the ten year path

If your record is too long for the regular path, Clean Slate expungement under N.J.S.A. 2C:52-5.3 may be the answer. After ten years from the latest conviction, payment, end of supervision or release, you can ask the Superior Court to expunge your entire record at once. There is no limit on how many convictions it covers, as long as none of them is on the list of crimes that can never be expunged.

The law also calls for a future automated Clean Slate system. Until that system is in place, you still apply by petition. The Public Defender's December 2025 guide describes Clean Slate as one of the paths you choose when filing in eCourts.

Charges that were dismissed or diverted

If your case ended in a dismissal, acquittal or discharge, N.J.S.A. 2C:52-6 directs the Superior Court to order the expungement at the time the case ends. If that never happened, you can file a petition any time afterward. One catch: a charge dismissed as part of a plea deal on other charges cannot be expunged until the conviction from that deal is expunged.

If your charge was dismissed after you completed supervisory treatment such as pretrial intervention (PTI), a conditional discharge or a conditional dismissal, you generally have to wait six months after the dismissal order. People who completed Veterans Diversion or Mental Health Diversion can apply any time after dismissal.

Marijuana and hashish cases

When New Jersey decriminalized marijuana in 2021, the Judiciary automatically expunged more than 362,000 eligible marijuana and hashish cases. If you think your case was one of them, you can ask the court where it was heard, or the Superior Court Clerk's Office in Trenton, for a certification confirming the expungement. If your case was not cleared and you think it should have been, the courts set up a way to ask for judicial review.

Other marijuana cases may qualify through the regular process or the separate marijuana and hashish provision in N.J.S.A. 2C:52-5.1. Sale or distribution charges are usually barred from expungement, but the statute carves out cases involving less than one ounce of marijuana or less than five grams of hashish.

What cannot be expunged

Some convictions can never be expunged under N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2. These include criminal homicide (with narrow exceptions), kidnapping, human trafficking, sexual assault, robbery, arson, perjury, terrorism and offenses involving the sexual exploitation of children. Crimes committed by a public official that touched their office are also barred, as are most sale or distribution drug convictions outside the small marijuana exception. Third and fourth degree distribution convictions may qualify if the court finds compelling circumstances.

For a barred conviction, a governor's pardon is the main remaining option. The Public Defender notes that a pardon can sometimes open the door to an expungement later.

How filing works

Conviction expungements are filed in the Superior Court in the county where you live or where a conviction happened. The Judiciary's eCourts Expungement System lets you register, look up your cases and file online, and the courts say the application is free. You will need your case numbers: a Promis Gavel number for Superior Court cases or a summons or warrant number for municipal cases.

The petition goes to the prosecutor and other agencies, and the prosecutor can object. Many cases are decided without a hearing, but the court can ask you to appear. Once an order is signed, the New Jersey State Police and other agencies carry it out, and you can track that progress online using the XP number on your order.

Be thorough when you list your record. The Public Defender's guide advises keeping every case the system pulls up unless you are sure it is not yours, and listing out-of-state charges even though they will not be expunged. Leaving something off can cause problems later.