Being home to the main campus of the University of Georgia, Athens has a large student population that spends several years of their lives in this city. Students, as many people may agree, sometimes make mistakes, without realizing that those mistakes could give rise to some major challenges later in their lives.
Fortunately, there are provisions in Georgia laws, which allow certain criminal records to be hidden or sealed from the public. These laws can go a long way in ensuring that a mistake made in the young age does not haunt the bright prospects that many UGA students have. That would include both professional and personal aspects of life.
Georgia expungement law
According to Georgia law, arrests that do not lead to conviction and certain misdemeanour can be hidden from the public if a person files a request to expunge those records, provided certain criteria are met.
The process to restrict records depends on the date of the arrest and which agency or the prosecuting attorney processed a particular case.
- If the arrest was before July 1, 2013, the arresting agency will process the expungement request.
- If the arrest was after July 1, 2013, the prosecuting attorney’s office will process the expungement request.
After the expungement request is processed and approved, the applicant will need to submit it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Georgia Crime Information Center for it to remove the arrest from public record. Note that such records will continue to be visible to judicial officials and the criminal justice agencies.
Filing a request for expungement
On approval of an expungement request, entities such as employers and landlords are not able to view the sealed criminal records, which can go a long way in ensuring that a person has the rightful opportunity to employment and housing, among other things.
That said, expungement requests can be complicated and it is always advisable for an applicant to have professional guidance. With the appropriate help, the chances of an expungement request getting approved may increase significantly.
