Do Municipal Court Arrests and Convictions Show up on my Criminal Record?
Because of global accessibility to digitized information and record keeping, data sharing across local, state, and federal governmental agencies has become the norm. The result has been clients who have had municipal court convictions from the 80s, 70s or even 60s pop up on a background check, preventing them from getting an apartment, being hired for a job or purchasing a firearm.
How Are Old Municipal Court Arrests or Convictions Found Out?
People who find themselves blindsided by the sudden appearance of a sometimes decades old municipal arrest or conviction can’t imagine that they would find themselves in this position, but thanks to computerized data sharing, they must now address what is often a youthful indiscretion, long forgotten. At one time, municipal court records were not accessed without a specific records request made by that specific court. With hundreds of potential records to go through, specific records were relatively hard to stumble across.
Thanks to centralized records databases maintained by state and federal authorities, documents recording municipal court arrests and convictions are now easily obtained by civilian background check agencies who make their money collecting such information.
Don’t Wait; Have Your Municipal Arrest or Conviction Set Aside
For these reasons, and because the history of an arrest or conviction never truly goes away, it is imperative that people take proactive steps to clear up the entirety of their criminal histories, including arrests and convictions through municipal courts that may not have affected them in the past.
This Information is not Legal Advice
The information provided here is not intended to be a substitute for one’s own legal research or the advice of a qualified criminal defense lawyer. Laws and the interpretation of those laws are subject to change at any time, so what was applicable one day may be completely different the next. Legally, each individual case is different and a legal strategy used for one defendant may not be the best course of action for another. Contact an experienced rights restoration lawyer to discuss and understand your particular legal situation.