Clear my criminal record
Part 4: Finger print records
I’ve written about what expungement is and who can get it. I explained how expungement is pretty limited in what it will do for you and how it falls short of truly clearing your criminal history. Now, let me tell you the secret to get a criminal conviction in Wisconsin erased from the state’s criminal information database.
The state’s Criminal History Unit, a part of the Crime Information Bureau of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, keeps a list of all criminal arrests, charges, and convictions that occur in the state. This database is called the Wisconsin Online Record Check System (WORCS). Anyone can search WORCS for a fee. Employers, landlords, schools, licensing agencies—literally anyone who can afford to run a criminal background check through the dozens of companies that offer them online—can plug your name into WORCS. Your criminal conviction will appear in that search even if you had it expunged.
Your name gets on that list when a fingerprint record is created for you or when law enforcement or the courts volunteer criminal data to the Criminal History Unit. A fingerprint record is created when you’re arrested or taken into custody for a felony or certain types of misdemeanors.
Can you have your name taken off the list? The good news is yes, you can! Here’s how.
You can remove a record of an arrest and/or criminal charges from WORCS in any of these four scenarios:
You’re arrested but not charged with a crime.
You’re arrested and charged with a crime, but the charges are later dropped by the prosecutor.
You’re arrested and charged with a crime, but the charges are later dismissed by a court order.
You’re arrested and charged with a crime, but you’re found not guilty or acquitted of the charges by a jury.
Removal from WORCS doesn’t just happen. You actually need to apply to have the record removed. The form is available online on the Wisconsin DOJ’s website here.
Once your application is approved, the DOJ will remove the record from WORCS. It doesn’t end there. If the record is shared with the FBI, they will also inform that FBI that the record has been removed. They will also inform the prosecutor’s office in the same way.
As I have said before, your best bet to clear your criminal record is to hire a knowledgeable and compassionate criminal defense attorney from the get go. The attorneys at Valley View Law will fight to get the charges against you dropped, dismissed, and will be unafraid to try your case to a jury.
