Expunging or Sealing Your Massachusetts Criminal Record

Can I Expunge or Seal My Massachusetts Case or CORI?

Many people can. Massachusetts law offers two distinct remedies, sealing and expungement, and each one can restore the clean record that employers, schools, licensing boards, and landlords expect to see. This page explains how both remedies work, who qualifies, when the waiting periods run, and where the petitions are filed. It also explains the single most important fact in all of Massachusetts record protection. The best record is the one that never gets created in the first place.

Before Arraignment, There Is No Record to Seal

A Massachusetts criminal case appears on your Massachusetts criminal record (CORI) only after you have been arraigned in a Massachusetts criminal court and a not guilty plea has been entered on your behalf. Before that moment, no formal record of your case exists. A Massachusetts clerk-magistrate’s hearing, also known as a Show Cause hearing, never appears on your Massachusetts criminal record. Attorney Joseph Serpa has succeeded hundreds of times in ending cases before arraignment, sometimes at the clerk-magistrate’s hearing itself and sometimes after a Show Cause hearing but before the arraignment date. Cases dismissed before arraignment never show on your criminal record for any purpose, whether the check comes from law enforcement or anyone else.

Once you are arraigned, your case shows on your criminal record as an open matter. You can ask the court to seal it only after the case has been resolved by dismissal, acquittal, or a guilty finding.

The most effective way to avoid a searchable record is therefore to avoid the arraignment altogether by winning at the clerk-magistrate hearing. Our Massachusetts Clerk-Magistrate Hearing FAQs, our guide I Received a Show Cause Notice in Massachusetts. What Do I Do?, and our overview of clerk-magistrate hearings in Massachusetts explain how these hearings work and how we prepare for them.

The pre-arraignment window matters most to people whose futures ride on a clean CORI. College and university students face school disciplinary boards now and character reviews for graduate programs, bar admission, and medical licensure later. Nurses, teachers, brokers, and other licensed professionals answer to boards that check records at every renewal. Immigrants and visa holders face government reviews that ask about arrests as well as convictions. For these clients we treat the clerk-magistrate hearing as the main event and prepare it like a trial, because a case that ends there leaves nothing to seal. Our case results show how often that approach keeps a record from ever being created.

When a case cannot be resolved before arraignment, sealing and expungement become the tools that preserve your future. These remedies work after a Massachusetts criminal case is dismissed, after it is continued without a finding (CWOF), and even after you plead or are found guilty of a Massachusetts misdemeanor or felony. Once your case is sealed, it disappears from view for almost all purposes, including employment applications, educational institutions, and housing providers. When you can ask the court to seal depends on how the case ended, as explained below.

What Is the Difference Between Sealing and Expungement in Massachusetts?

Expunging an adult Massachusetts criminal case takes the case off the books completely. M.G.L. c. 276, § 100E defines expungement as “the permanent erasure or destruction of a record so that the record is no longer accessible to, or maintained by, the court, any criminal justice agencies or any other state agency, municipal agency or county agency.”

Sealing limits who can see the record. Expungement destroys the record and makes it permanently unavailable. Expungement is a very powerful remedy for people with limited Massachusetts criminal records, as discussed below, but eligibility is narrow. If you are not eligible to expunge your record, you may still be eligible to seal it. Sealing is often just as effective in practice and is available to far more candidates.

What Is Expungement and When Should I Get a Case Expunged?

Massachusetts allows expungement in two situations. The first turns on the passage of time and the shape of your record. The second turns on something having gone wrong in the case itself.

Time-Based Expungement (M.G.L. c. 276, § 100E)

For felonies older than seven years and misdemeanors older than three years, expungement may be available if every one of the following is true.

• You have no more than two separate criminal cases on your record. Multiple offenses arising out of the same incident count as a single record.
• The offense occurred before your twenty-first birthday.
• The offense did not result in death or serious bodily injury and was not committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury.
• The offense was not committed while in possession of a dangerous weapon.
• An elderly or disabled person was not the alleged victim of the offense.
• The offense is not a sex offense, whether or not involving a child, and is not a sexually violent offense.
• The offense is not Operating Under the Influence (OUI), whether drugs or alcohol.
• The offense is not a firearms violation or a violation for illegal sale of a firearm.
• The offense is not a violation of any restraining order (209A) or harassment prevention order (258E).
• The offense is not assault or assault and battery on a household member.
• The offense is not one of the felonies listed in M.G.L. c. 265.

Cause-Based Expungement (M.G.L. c. 276, § 100K)

Section 100K covers expungement of juvenile or adult cases where the record should never have existed in the first place. A person was incorrectly named as the defendant, the offense was later decriminalized, the case resulted from mistakes by police or others, or some other miscarriage of justice specified in § 100K occurred. These are very rare exceptions. They include the following situations.

• Identity theft or false or unauthorized use of your identity, meaning someone impersonated you or misused your name.
• A decriminalized offense, such as marijuana possession under two ounces, being in the presence of heroin, disrupting assembly at an elementary or high school when you were a student there, or a juvenile case filed against a child under 12.
• Errors by law enforcement, including misidentification of a defendant, errors related to failed perception or other impairment, and misconduct or racial bias that resulted in a complaint filed in error or without probable cause.
• Errors by court employees, such as a complaint issued due to clerical error or a docket entry mistake that carries a stigma or causes adverse consequences.
• Demonstrable fraud perpetrated on the court, such as bribery of a judge or other fraud involving the court system itself.

Who Can See My Massachusetts Criminal Case or Criminal Record If It Is Sealed?

For most practical purposes, sealing your Massachusetts criminal record works as well as expunging it. Sealing hides the fact that you were ever arrested for the charge from potential employers, landlords, and educational institutions. Despite persistent myths, a sealed Massachusetts case is concealed from view and removed from the Massachusetts and interstate CORI that third-party background check companies pull. Nothing viewable remains at all, not even an entry suggesting that a case once existed or that it has been sealed.

Under M.G.L. c. 6, § 172, only law enforcement keeps access to your sealed record. In very limited cases the state, or a town or city, can view a sealed record if you apply for a license to carry a firearm. If you are in family court on a child custody or domestic abuse case after your record has been sealed, the family court judge can sometimes review the sealed record in camera, which means only the judge sees it.

Federal background checks search for your record in an FBI database. That record is most commonly generated when a person is arrested and fingerprinted. Massachusetts courts are required to instruct the FBI to seal a Massachusetts record that has been sealed at the state level. The FBI has not consistently obeyed this directive. You should assume that a sealed Massachusetts record may still appear in a fingerprint-produced FBI background check for federal employment or security clearance purposes. Immigrants and visa holders should make the same assumption, because consular and immigration reviews rely on fingerprint-based checks and may ask about arrests regardless of what a state seal conceals.

Sealing never limits your own access. The Supreme Judicial Court confirmed in Gravito v. Commonwealth that a defendant and his attorney keep full access to his own sealed records and may use them in his defense, without any special motion, because sealing closes a record to others and not to you. Our full analysis appears in our review of the Gravito decision on sealed record access.

Do I Have to Tell Employers or Other Institutions About My Sealed Massachusetts Criminal Record?

No. Under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A(b), the Massachusetts record-sealing statute permits you to truthfully answer “no record” once your Massachusetts criminal case is sealed. If a potential employer, educational institution, or housing authority asks the Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) or the Department of Probation whether you have a criminal record, those agencies must give the same answer. You have no record.

When Can I Seal a Massachusetts Criminal Case If I Was Found Guilty or Pled Guilty?

The answer depends on the Massachusetts crime you were accused of and on how your case ended. M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A sets the waiting periods.

• Misdemeanor convictions become eligible three years from the conviction or from release from incarceration, whichever is later.
• Felony convictions become eligible seven years from the conviction or from release from incarceration, whichever is later.
• Sex offense convictions become eligible fifteen years from the conviction or from release from incarceration, whichever is later, and only if you are no longer required to register with the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB).

These waiting periods toll, which means the clock restarts if a new entry appears on your criminal record before the period expires. A misdemeanor conviction from 2000 would ordinarily be eligible for sealing in 2003. If a new misdemeanor conviction enters the record in 2002, you must wait three years from that conviction, until 2005, to seal both records. The sealing date of the later case controls the earlier case as well.

When Can I Seal My Massachusetts Criminal Case If I Was Not Convicted?

A CWOF, Pretrial Probation, or Dismissal May Be Sealed Immediately Upon Dismissal

Massachusetts criminal cases that end in dismissal show as open cases on your Massachusetts CORI from the day of your arraignment until the day the court disposes of them. Once your case is dismissed, you are eligible to ask the court to seal it immediately.

If your case is continued without a finding (CWOF) or you receive pretrial probation, the case shows as open on your Massachusetts CORI until the period of pretrial probation or the CWOF ends. At that point the case is dismissed and you are free to petition the court to seal it.

Do I Need a Judge to Seal a Dismissed Case?

Not always. A judge can seal a dismissed Massachusetts case immediately upon dismissal. That path requires a petition showing that the presence of the case on your record is affecting your career, your housing, or other life circumstances. If you can wait, the Department of Probation can seal dismissals and dismissed CWOFs without a court hearing after three years for misdemeanors or seven years for felonies.

Either route produces the same result. The record is completely concealed, and no entry remains to suggest that a case was ever sealed or removed from public view.

Judges do not grant these petitions automatically. The standards they apply, the Pon good cause factors, the J.F. rule of mandatory sealing for not guilty findings, the K.W. presumption in favor of expungement, and the offenses that can never be sealed are set out in depth with full case citations on our page covering Massachusetts sealing and expungement standards. That page also explains what a state seal does and does not do to an FBI record.

How to Seal a Massachusetts Criminal Record

There are two pathways. Administrative sealing means sealing by mail through the Commissioner of Probation. It is available when every case on the CORI has passed its applicable waiting period. The petitioner completes a Petition to Seal, form TC-005, and mails it to the Office of the Commissioner of Probation. No court appearance is required. If the petition is approved, the Probation Service notifies the DCJIS and the applicable courts.

Judicial sealing means sealing by court petition under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100C. This route is required when the waiting period has not expired, when the case requires individualized judicial review, or when an immediate seal of a dismissed case is sought. The petition is filed at the court where the case was heard, and a hearing is scheduled. The petitioner must show good cause, meaning that the presence of the record is causing or may cause an unreasonable disadvantage.

Preparation decides most of these hearings. We start with a fresh copy of your CORI, because petitions stumble when they misstate a docket number or overlook an old entry that resets a waiting period. We then document the disadvantage in concrete terms, such as a job posting that requires a background check, a professional license renewal, a rejected apartment application, or a degree program that will not place a student in clinical or field work with an open entry on file. Attorney Serpa has successfully petitioned for early sealing in numerous cases where the waiting period had not yet run. Contact Serpa Law Office at 617.936.0201 for a CORI review and sealing assessment.

Ineligible Offenses: Can All Massachusetts Criminal Offenses Be Sealed or Expunged?

No. Not all Massachusetts crimes can be sealed or expunged. Certain offenses remain ineligible even if the case was dismissed or you were found not guilty.

Offenses Ineligible for Sealing (M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A)

• First degree murder (M.G.L. c. 265, § 1) and second degree murder (M.G.L. c. 265, § 2).
• Crimes against public justice under M.G.L. c. 268, including perjury, witness intimidation, and aiding escape from jail.
• State Ethics Act violations under M.G.L. c. 268A, including bribes to public officials and other corruption charges.
• Specific firearms offenses under M.G.L. c. 140, §§ 121 to 131H, including selling ammunition or guns without a license and buying from an unlicensed dealer.
• Sex offenses where you are currently required to register with SORB, or where you have ever been classified as a Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender.

Offenses Ineligible for Expungement (M.G.L. c. 276, § 100J)

• Violent crimes, meaning any offense resulting in death or serious bodily injury or committed with the intent to cause such harm.
• Any crime committed while armed with a dangerous weapon.
• Crimes committed against elderly or disabled persons.
• Domestic violence, meaning assault or assault and battery on a family or household member (M.G.L. c. 265, § 13M).
• OUI, meaning operating under the influence of liquor or drugs (M.G.L. c. 90, § 24).
• Sex offenses as defined by M.G.L. c. 123A, § 1.
• Violations of 209A restraining orders and 258E harassment prevention orders.
• Felony crimes against persons under M.G.L. c. 265, including murder, stalking, and kidnapping.

For detailed questions and answers on the sealing and expungement process, see our Massachusetts CORI Sealing and Expungement FAQ, our CWOF, Pretrial Probation, and Diversion FAQ, and our Greater Boston & Massachusetts Criminal Case FAQs.

Courts Where Massachusetts CORI Sealing Petitions Are Filed

Under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A, a petition to seal a Massachusetts criminal record is filed with the court that originally handled the case. The sealing petition goes back to the same courthouse where the arraignment occurred, the case was tried or resolved, and any sentence was imposed. Serpa Law Office files sealing petitions in each of these courts.

• Boston Municipal Court (BMC) for cases heard in any of the eight BMC divisions of Central, Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston, and West Roxbury.
• Quincy District Court for cases heard in Quincy, Weymouth, Braintree, Randolph, and Milton. The Serpa Law Office Quincy office is minutes from the courthouse.
• Dedham District Court for cases heard in Dedham, Needham, Norwood, Wellesley, and Westwood.
• Brookline District Court for cases heard in Brookline.
• Newton District Court for cases heard in Newton.
• Cambridge District Court for cases heard in Cambridge, Arlington, and Belmont.
• Somerville District Court for cases heard in Somerville and Medford.
• Woburn District Court for cases heard in Woburn, Burlington, Reading, Stoneham, Winchester, and Wilmington.
• Waltham District Court for cases heard in Waltham and Watertown.
• Malden District Court for cases heard in Malden, Everett, and Revere.
• Framingham District Court for cases heard in Framingham, Natick, and MetroWest communities.
• Concord District Court for cases heard in Concord, Acton, Lincoln, and Maynard.
• Hingham District Court for cases heard in Hingham, Norwell, Scituate, Rockland, and Cohasset.

Sealing petitions for cases heard in Massachusetts Superior Court are filed with the Superior Court in the relevant county. Cases eligible for expungement under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100E are petitioned in the originating court. The administrative sealing process through the Department of Probation under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A is separate from the court petition process and applies when the required waiting periods have been met. For more on how CORI works, see Massachusetts CORI and Criminal Records.

Serpa Law Office helps clients seal and expunge Massachusetts criminal records in Boston, Quincy, Brockton, Framingham, and Newton, and throughout Middlesex, Norfolk, Essex, Plymouth and Suffolk Counties. Call us at 617.936.0201 or contact us online to schedule a free meeting to talk about your case.