Court Records Blog

In the American legal system, “expungement“ of criminal records generally refers to the process by which the subject of a previous arrest or conviction seeks to have their criminal record either sealed or destroyed, thereby making it generally unavailable for public perusal.  An arrest or conviction on record can make it difficult to obtain housing, employment and eduction; expungement can therefore be invaluable to those wishing to turn their lives around after a criminal past.

Almost every state offers a chance for certain offenders to obtain an expungement.  The criteria for obtaining an expungement vary by jurisdiction, but often include a waiting period during which no other crimes are committed, that the crime not be too serious and that the offender not have too many previous convictions.  Regardless of how the expungement is obtained, the question then arises: once a criminal record has been expunged, did it ever really exist?  Will it show up on background checks?  Can it be used against a defendant in a future conviction?  Will it affect future employment opportunities?  These are intriguing questions, and like so many in the legal world the answer to them all is “it depends.”

A typical example of expungement law is that in Utah. There, under the Utah Expungement Act, expunged records are not necessarily destroyed.  Instead, according to the Utah State Courts website, “expunged court records are placed in an envelope which is securely sealed. The clerk records the case number and record classification on the envelope and inscribes across the sealed part of the envelope the words ‘Not to be opened except upon permission of the court.’”  Agencies such as the Parole Board, the Division of Professional Licensing and the State Office of Education may still obtain information contained in expunged records.  Therefore, although laws exist to protect the former offender from discrimination based on his record, the expunged record may still affect him or her in seeking certain types of employment that require licensing.

New Jersey recently confronted the issue of expunged records in a case that asked whether disseminating information about an expunged conviction could constitute libel. In the case of G.D. v. Hudson County Democratic Organization, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously decided that the plaintiff, who had had his 1993 drug conviction expunged, could not sue for defamation over the revelation of his conviction by a political opponent.  The court noted that the expungement did not mean “the wholesale rewriting of history.”  The information released by the defendant was in fact true, and truth constitutes an absolute defense to defamation crimes.  Therefore, even though the conviction had been expunged, it remained a part of the plaintiff’s past and could be used to discredit him.

Expungement of criminal records rarely erases them completely. Regardless, having a criminal record expunged can only help an offender in rebuilding his or her life.  Unfortunately, most courts do not yet provide expungement self help information online.  To find the ones that do, refer to CourtReference.  The site contains links to expungement self-help information for the following states: California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia. Expungement information for more states is being added to the site as it becomes available.

Online payments for traffic and other minor offenses are being adopted by more and more courts and government entities. We’ve previously reviewed online payment systems for traffic citations and other court fines in general and in North Carolina, and for parking tickets.

Red light camera tickets may also be paid online in some jurisdictions. Where red light cameras are used, the evidence that a driver ran a red light is a photograph or video. No police testimony is required, so most online red light camera ticket payment systems allow the driver to view the evidence before paying the fine.

Have you received a ticket in the mail that says you ran a red light and must pay a fine, or else set a court date and plead not guilty? Think you didn’t do it? Now you can see the evidence for yourself – and don’t get your hopes up, because those tickets don’t get sent out if the evidence isn’t clear.

Let’s take a look at some jurisdictions’ implementation. In Georgia’s Clayton County, the City of Morrow has a red light ticket system that displays the photographic evidence when you to enter your citation number and license plate number. In Cobb County, the City of Marietta has a similar system that requires entry of your violation number along with a password supplied along with the mailed violation; Marietta’s system even allows viewing of video evidence. Fulton County has a countywide system, and the City of Roswell has its own system for local violations.

Delaware has a statewide system for payment to the Department of Transportation.

In Louisiana’s Lafayette Parish, the City of Lafayette offers a system that provides both photo and video evidence when you enter your citation number, license plate number, and a city code provided by the city’s payment website.

Red light camera online fine payments, like their non-photographic counterparts, may be handled by a local government system or by a private company that may operate in several jurisdictions. A service or processing fee may be required. And if you don’t think the photo proves you ran that light, you always have the option to plead not guilty and let the judge decide.

Check CourtReference to see if your court or police department offers online red light camera citation viewing and payment.

Most citizens’ encounters with the legal system take place at the local level, often as a result of a traffic ticket. If you don’t live in the area and don’t know where to find the courthouse or court clerk’s office, how do you find it? What if the information was on that traffic ticket that you misplaced?

CourtReference can help. We provide contact information for all levels of trial courts, from the county’s highest trial court that hears capital murder and complex commercial cases to the village municipal court that hears speeding and town ordinance violations.

Some states include municipal courts in their unified judicial systems, and provide contact information for all courts in the system. Most do not. Some counties provide directories of local court officials. Most do not. When it’s available, we check that information to make sure it’s current.

We previously reviewed New Jersey municipal court consolidation, and how that affects court locations and contact information. We also reviewed New York Town and Village Courts and how we monitor and update their locations. Louisiana, like New York, has City Courts that are part of the state system and other local courts that are not. Louisiana towns and villages have Mayor’s Courts (sometimes called Magistrate Courts), just like New York’s Town and Village Courts. Louisiana also has Justice of the Peace Courts that serve parts of each parish (Louisiana parishes are equivalent to counties in other states).

Like New York’s Town and Village Courts, Louisiana municipal courts generally have one clerk and one justice or magistrate. Caddo Parish is a good example of the array of municipal courts: a City Court with a full staff and website, and many Justice of the Peace Courts and Mayor’s and Magistrate Courts. Note that only three of the 19 lower courts have websites.

Most City Courts have websites. Most lower municipal courts do not, although more are being added all the time. If a municipal court website exists, we provide a link. The court website has the most current contact information, and often includes additional useful information such as hours, court calendars, personnel, and procedures.

Contact information changes more frequently for municipal courts than for higher courts, because the contact information for some municipal court clerks and judges is their residence. Some town or village offices (aka Town Halls) are only open a few hours or days each week. The courtroom may only be staffed when court is in session one evening each week. In those situations, local court clerks and judges may be most easily reached at their homes or home offices. When the court official changes due to an election or resignation, the contact information can also change.

When the best municipal court contact information is Town Hall or Village Hall, it may be the phone number of the city clerk who also serves as court clerk. It may be the Police Department, where a deputy serves as court clerk. Court may be held at Town Hall, the Police Department, the school auditorium, or some other suitable room. If the mailing address is different than the physical address, we provide both.

CourtReference does the research to determine the best available location and contact information for every court, so you don’t have to.