Oregon Legal Research Blog
From the Virtual Chase (their Research News Alerts), comes this:
“Urban Legend: Expunged Records Disappear
(30 Oct) BRB Publications, Inc. reprints an excellent article by Lester S. Rosen, an employment law attorney, on what happens to expunged criminal records. “[J]ob applicants [generally believe] that after a judge vacates, expunges, sets aside, defers the adjudication or otherwise judicially erases a criminal record in some fashion, the records disappear and can never be found. With limited exceptions, the general rule is that the government does not destroy records. In the typical scenario, even if the judge orders a set aside, the consumer’s name can still be found by searching the court indexes and the case can still be viewed as a public record.”
RELATED: Pinching Pennies in a Background Check Might Cost You The Virtual Chase, 24 August 2005″