§ 16–804. Effect of expungement of criminal records.

(a) The effect of expungement shall be to restore a person, in the contemplation of the law, to the status they occupied before being cited, arrested, charged, or convicted.

(b) No person as to whom criminal record expungement relief has been granted shall be held thereafter under any provision of law to be guilty of perjury or otherwise giving a false statement by reason of failure to acknowledge or disclose that citation, arrest, charge, prosecution, disposition, or conviction, in response to any inquiry made of them for any purpose.

(1) The Clerk and each prosecutor and law enforcement, corrections, pretrial, and community supervision agency shall:

(A) Eliminate from all publicly available physical and computerized records any references that identify the person as having been cited, arrested, prosecuted, or convicted;

(B) Be entitled to retain records relating to the person's citation, arrest, prosecution, and conviction in a nonpublic, restricted access file; and

(2) Each prosecutor and law enforcement, corrections, pretrial, and community supervision agency shall file a certification with the Court within 90 days after an order to expunge is issued that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, all references that identify the person as having been cited, arrested, prosecuted, or convicted have been expunged;

(3) The Clerk shall:

(A) Retain a nonpublic record, appropriately and securely indexed to protect its confidentiality, containing records retrieved pursuant to this section and the certifications filed pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection; and

(B) Make reasonable efforts to provide a copy of the order to expunge and the certifications filed pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection to the person who was cited, arrested, charged, or convicted, or their counsel:

(i) When the Court issues the order;

(ii) When the certifications are filed pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection; and

(iii) At any time, upon proper identification, without a showing of need;

(4) In a case involving co-defendants in which the Court orders the person's criminal records be expunged, the Court shall order, to the extent practicable:

(A) That only those records, or portions thereof, relating solely to the person be redacted;

(B) That the person's name be redacted from records that are not expunged; and

(C) The redaction of references to the person that appear in a transcript of court proceedings involving co-defendants; and

(5) The Court shall not be required to order the redaction of the person's name from any published opinion of the trial or appellate courts that refers to the person.

(d)(1) Records retained in a nonpublic file pursuant to this section shall only be available to:

(A) The person who was cited, arrested, charged, or convicted, or their counsel;

(B) A prosecutor, defense attorney, law enforcement, corrections, pretrial, or community supervision agency, for the purpose of:

(i) Investigating, prosecuting, or defending another criminal case;

(ii) Complying with disclosure obligations in another criminal case; or

(iii) Determining the person's suitability for diversion, release, sentencing reduction, or record sealing in another case; and

(i) Use in civil litigation related to the citation, charge, arrest, or conviction; or

(ii) Upon order of the Court for good cause shown, such as for anonymized records for academic or journalistic purposes.

(2) A request for access to or to disclose expunged records may be made ex parte and may be granted by the Court for good cause shown.

(3) If the Court permits a requestor to access or disclose expunged records, the Court and the requestor shall take all reasonable measures to ensure that the records are secure and that the contents are not identifiably disclosed, published, or redistributed, such as by issuing a protective order or electronically limiting access to verified viewers.

(4) A person, upon making inquiry of the Court concerning the existence of criminal records involving an individual, shall be entitled to rely, for any purpose under the law, upon the clerk's response that no records are available with respect to any issue about that person's knowledge of the individual's record.

(May 5, 2007, D.C. Law 16-307, § 2(b), 54 DCR 868; June 15, 2013, D.C. Law 19-319, § 4(d), 60 DCR 2333; Mar. 10, 2023, D.C. Law 24-284, § 101(b), 70 DCR 913.)

Effect of Amendments

The 2013 amendment by D.C. Law 19-319 rewrote (b) and (c); and added (e).

Applicability

Section 7290(a) of D.C. Law 25-217 amended section 40(b) of D.C. Law 225-175, amending section 301 of D.C. Law 24-284 making the amendment of this section by section 101(b) of D.C. Law 24-284 applicable as of March 1, 2025.

Section 40(b) of D.C. Law 25-175 amended section 301 of D.C. Law 24-284 changing the applicability provision impacting this section to October 1, 2024. Therefore the amendment of this section by section 101(b) of Law 24-284 will be implemented on October 1, 2024.

Section 7088 of D.C. Law 25-50 amended section 301 of D.C. Law 24-284 changing the applicability provision impacting this section to January 1, 2026. Therefore the amendment of this section by section 101(b) of Law 24-284 will be implemented on January 1, 2026.

Applicability of D.C. Law 24-284: § 301 of D.C. Law 24-284 provided that the change made to this section by § 101(b) of D.C. Law 24-284 is subject to the inclusion of the law’s fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan. Therefore that amendment has not been implemented.