Arkansas expungement is handled under the state’s Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act of 2013, which lets you seal most misdemeanors and many felony convictions from public view. Sealing doesn’t destroy the record, but it pulls the conviction off standard background checks and lets you lawfully tell employers and landlords you have no conviction. Filing is free, and you don’t need a lawyer, though eligibility turns on the offense, your history, and how much time has passed since you finished your sentence.
Arkansas uses the word “sealing” where other states say “expungement.” The two terms are used interchangeably in everyday conversation, but the statute and the court forms say sealing.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility falls into a few groups, and the broadest access goes to records where you were never convicted in the first place.
- Arrests where the prosecutor never filed charges.
- Charges that were dismissed, dropped, or ended in a not-guilty verdict.
- Misdemeanors and violations, including traffic offenses, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and low-level drug charges. There is no cap on how many misdemeanor records you can petition to seal.
- Class B, C, and D felonies, including offenses like forgery, non-violent theft, and drug possession, unless the specific offense sits on the exclusion list.
- First Offender Act cases where you completed probation. The court discharges you without an adjudication of guilt and seals the record as part of that process.
- Juvenile records, particularly once the person has reached adulthood without further legal trouble.
People who completed drug court or another diversion program also qualify. Across every category, the same baseline applies: you must have finished every piece of your sentence. Fines paid. Probation or parole completed. Community service done. Restitution paid in full.
Convictions That Can’t Be Sealed
Arkansas permanently excludes its most serious convictions:
- Class Y felonies, the top tier in Arkansas, covering murder, rape, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery.
- Class A felonies, including manslaughter and some armed robbery charges.
- Any sex offense that requires registration.
If your conviction is a Class B, C, or D felony and doesn’t involve a registrable sex offense, it likely qualifies, though some specific offenses inside those classes carry extra restrictions. Felony DUI and BWI convictions, for example, have separate rules that limit how often you can re-petition after a denial.
How Long You Have to Wait
The waiting period runs from the date you finished your sentence, not the date of conviction.
- Non-conviction records: no waiting period. File as soon as the case is dismissed or you’re acquitted.
- Misdemeanors: file immediately after completing your sentence in full.
- Felonies: generally five years after completing your entire sentence, including any probation or parole.
The clock doesn’t start while anything is outstanding. If a restitution balance is still owed or probation hasn’t ended, you haven’t completed the sentence for waiting-period purposes.
How to File
You start with the Uniform Petition to Seal, the standardized form the Act requires. File it in the circuit or district court in the county where the case happened. The petition needs the case number, a description of the offense, your sentencing date, and a statement of why you qualify.
After filing, serve a copy on the prosecuting attorney’s office. The prosecutor decides whether to object. If nobody contests it, the court can grant the petition without a hearing. If the prosecutor objects, the court sets a hearing and you present your case.
There is no filing fee. Act 680 of 2019 eliminated court costs for sealing petitions, so you don’t need to budget for filing fees or ask for a fee waiver. You also don’t need an attorney, though hiring one makes sense if your case involves a felony or the prosecutor is likely to push back.
Uncontested petitions typically move from filing to a final order in a few months. Contested cases, or courts running heavy dockets, take longer.
What the Judge Looks At
When a petition is contested, the judge decides whether sealing serves the interests of justice, and the weight given to each factor varies by judge.
Rehabilitation matters most. Judges want to see that you’ve moved on: steady work, education or vocational training, community involvement, and a clean record since the conviction. Letters from employers, mentors, or community leaders who can vouch for your character help. The nature of the original offense matters too. A single bad decision gets treated differently from financial fraud or harm to a vulnerable person, and judges pay attention to whether the conviction was isolated or part of a pattern.
What Sealing Actually Does
Once the court grants the petition, the record comes off public databases and won’t appear on the standard background checks employers and landlords run. You can legally answer “no” when a job or housing application asks whether you’ve been convicted of a crime.
The record still exists, though. Some entities keep access:
- Law enforcement can view sealed records during investigations or future prosecutions.
- State licensing boards in fields like healthcare, law, and education may see a sealed conviction when you apply for a license.
- Courts can consider a sealed conviction at sentencing if you’re convicted of a new offense.
DUI and DWI convictions carry an additional wrinkle. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration keeps its own driving records that include DUI and DWI offenses. Those records affect your driving privileges, your insurance, and how a future DUI would be charged, whether or not the court record is sealed.
Where Sealing Doesn’t Reach
Arkansas sealing binds state agencies. Federal authorities and private companies operate under their own rules, and the gaps catch people off guard.
Immigration
Federal immigration authorities do not recognize state expungement or sealing orders. A sealed conviction for a controlled substance offense or a crime involving moral turpitude can still trigger deportation, denial of a visa, or rejection of a naturalization application. The Board of Immigration Appeals has consistently held that state actions to expunge or seal a conviction have no effect on the underlying conviction for immigration purposes. If you are not a U.S. citizen, talk to an immigration attorney before relying on a sealed record.
Firearms
Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of an offense punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing firearms. The ATF recognizes an exception: if a conviction has been expunged or set aside, or civil rights have been restored, the person is generally not considered “convicted” under federal firearms law, unless the state still expressly prohibits them from possessing firearms. Whether an Arkansas sealed record fits that exception depends on the specific offense and the terms of the sealing order. Get a clear answer from an attorney before buying or possessing a gun.
Commercial Driver’s Licenses
Federal regulations bar states from masking, deferring, or diverting traffic violations for anyone holding a commercial driver’s license or commercial learner’s permit. If you hold a CDL, your traffic convictions stay on your federal CDLIS driving record regardless of any state sealing order. That applies to convictions in any vehicle, not just commercial ones.
Private Background Check Databases
Private background check companies scrape court records and build their own databases, and they don’t automatically update when a record is sealed. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumer reporting agencies are required to have procedures to prevent reporting sealed or expunged records, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued guidance saying so. If a sealed conviction shows up on a background check, you can dispute it with the reporting company. The EEOC has acknowledged the same problem and has signaled that an employer who rejects an applicant based on a sealed record that shouldn’t have appeared may face liability under federal anti-discrimination law. Keep a copy of your sealing order so you can challenge inaccurate reports quickly.