Charges that cannot be expunged from your record fall into a few consistent categories across the country: murder and other violent felonies, sex offenses, crimes against children, and domestic violence are barred almost everywhere. Beyond those near-universal exclusions, many states also block expungement for DUI convictions, high-level drug trafficking, and serious financial fraud. Federal convictions are, as a practical matter, permanent, with only one narrow statutory exception for minor drug possession.
Expungement Is Not the Same as Sealing
The distinction matters before you read any list. Expungement destroys criminal records as though the arrest or conviction never happened. Sealing hides the record from public view but keeps it accessible to law enforcement and certain government agencies through a court order. Many states offer sealing rather than true expungement for some offenses, and the terms get used interchangeably in casual conversation even though they produce different legal outcomes.
When a charge is described as “ineligible for expungement,” it may still be sealable in some states, or it may be permanently excluded from both. A sealed record can still surface during background checks for law enforcement positions, security clearances, or professional licensing. The categories below are offenses typically excluded from both expungement and sealing, though jurisdictions draw the line differently.
Violent Felonies
Violent felonies are the most broadly excluded category nationwide. Murder, manslaughter, armed robbery, kidnapping, and aggravated assault are ineligible for expungement in nearly every state. Legislatures have consistently decided that public safety outweighs the offender’s interest in a clean record.
Even states that have recently expanded eligibility carve out violent crimes. New Jersey’s automatic expungement system excludes murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and rape. Michigan’s automatic set-aside law excludes assaultive crimes, offenses involving injury or death, and any crime punishable by ten or more years in prison. Indiana flatly bars expungement for any felony that caused serious bodily injury or death, or that involved a deadly weapon.
Sex Offenses
Sex offenses face the most consistent expungement bans of any category. Virtually every state bars expungement for sexual assault, rape, and child exploitation offenses. Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, and Kentucky prohibit expungement for all sex offenses without qualification. Colorado bars expungement of any felony involving unlawful sexual behavior. Florida’s exclusion list covers sexual misconduct, human trafficking, voyeurism, and any offense requiring sex offender registration.
The sex offender registry creates a parallel barrier. Where an offense triggers mandatory registration, that requirement typically survives any record-clearing effort. The District of Columbia bars sealing of any misdemeanor that requires sex offender registration. Kansas excludes sex offenses from expungement if the offender must register under the state’s offender registration act. Massachusetts allows sealing of some sex offenses after 15 years but permanently excludes anyone classified as a Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender.
Crimes Against Children
Offenses involving child victims get their own layer of exclusions beyond the general sex offense and violence bans. Child abuse, child endangerment, and child exploitation are specifically listed as ineligible in most states, partly because conviction records feed into child abuse registries used by schools, daycares, and foster care agencies.
California bars expungement of sex offenses involving child victims specifically. Delaware excludes convictions for unlawfully dealing with a child. Florida lists luring or enticing a child and sexual performance by a child as permanently ineligible. Michigan excludes child abuse in any degree. Nevada bars expungement petitions for any crime against a child.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence convictions are increasingly treated as a separate exclusion rather than being folded into general violent crimes. Colorado specifically excludes domestic violence convictions from record sealing. Louisiana bars expungement for domestic abuse, battery, and stalking. Several states that otherwise allow misdemeanor expungement draw the line at domestic violence offenses.
A federal consequence rides along with these convictions regardless of what the state record shows. A domestic violence conviction triggers a lifetime ban on firearm possession under federal law, and that ban applies even if the underlying state record is cleared. In the handful of states where a domestic violence misdemeanor might technically be eligible for expungement, the federal firearm prohibition persists independently.
DUI and DWI Convictions
DUI and DWI convictions occupy a middle ground that surprises many people. Some states allow expungement of a first-offense misdemeanor DUI after a lengthy waiting period; others prohibit it entirely. Variation here is wider than in almost any other offense category.
Where expungement is available, conditions are strict: a first offense, completion of all sentencing requirements, and waiting periods that commonly range from five to ten years. Kansas allows first-offense DUI expungement after five years. Kentucky requires a ten-year wait for misdemeanor convictions. Missouri requires ten years with no further offenses. Indiana makes misdemeanor DUI eligible after five years but keeps felony DUI permanently ineligible when injury or death occurred.
Two caveats apply even where DUI expungement is available. An expunged DUI still counts as a prior offense if you’re arrested for DUI again. And felony DUI, which typically involves repeat offenses or an accident causing injury or death, is almost never eligible for expungement regardless of the state.
High-Level Drug Offenses
Drug charges fall on a spectrum. Simple possession, particularly of marijuana, is increasingly eligible for expungement or even automatic record clearing. Large-scale trafficking, manufacturing, and distribution of controlled substances remain excluded in most jurisdictions. Courts look at the type and quantity involved, with harder substances and larger quantities facing the steepest barriers.
Michigan’s clean slate law makes minor misdemeanors eligible for automatic set-aside after seven years. Utah automatically expunges certain misdemeanor drug possession convictions. The same laws consistently exclude trafficking and distribution offenses, which carry felony classifications and sentences that fall outside eligibility windows.
Financial Fraud
White-collar crimes involving fraud are rarely eligible for expungement, particularly when they caused substantial financial harm. Embezzlement, identity theft, securities fraud, and large-scale financial schemes involve deliberate planning and multiple victims, which makes courts and legislatures reluctant to allow record clearing.
Under federal law, securities fraud alone can carry up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $5 million for individuals.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 78ff – Penalties Because federal convictions are almost entirely inexpungeable, federal financial crime defendants face permanent records. At the state level, financial crimes involving public officials, fiduciaries, or large numbers of victims face added exclusions. Michigan’s clean slate law excludes offenses involving “dishonesty” from automatic set-aside.
Federal Convictions
Federal convictions are, as a practical matter, permanent. The majority of federal circuit courts have held that federal courts lack jurisdiction to order equitable expungement of lawful convictions, a position adopted by the First, Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits.2United States Congress. Expunging Federal Criminal Records and Congressional Authority That covers the vast majority of federal districts.
Federal courts can expunge records in only three narrow situations: when records contain inaccurate information, when the arrest or conviction resulted from an unlawful or unconstitutional process, or when a specific federal statute authorizes expungement. The last category is almost entirely limited to one law.
The Federal First Offender Act
The sole meaningful statutory path to federal expungement is 18 U.S.C. ยง 3607, which applies to first-time simple drug possession offenses. To qualify, the person must have no prior federal or state drug convictions and must not have previously received this disposition. The court places the person on probation for up to one year without entering a conviction, and if probation is completed without a violation, the case is dismissed.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3607 – Special Probation and Expungement Procedures for Drug Possessors
Full expungement is available only if the person was under 21 at the time of the offense. When that age requirement is met, the court must enter an order directing removal of all references to the arrest and proceedings from official records. The Department of Justice still retains a nonpublic record to prevent anyone from using the provision twice.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3607 – Special Probation and Expungement Procedures for Drug Possessors For anyone over 21, or anyone convicted of any other federal offense, no statutory expungement mechanism exists.
When an Otherwise Eligible Charge Still Cannot Be Cleared
A charge that falls outside the categories above can still be blocked from expungement by the applicant’s broader record or by unmet conditions. Most states limit expungement to people with a small number of offenses, and habitual offender designations can disqualify someone entirely. Delaware limits mandatory expungement to cases where the person has no prior or subsequent convictions. The District of Columbia requires applicants to have no disqualifying arrests or convictions within eight years of completing their sentence. Michigan caps automatic set-asides at four misdemeanors and two felonies. Pennsylvania requires individuals to be free of convictions carrying a sentence of one or more years for at least ten years.
Timing barriers also keep eligible charges on records for years. Waiting periods typically begin after the entire sentence is complete, including probation, parole, and restitution, and commonly range from three years for minor misdemeanors to ten or more years for felonies. Other common blockers:
- Pending charges in any jurisdiction when the petition is filed.
- Outstanding fines, community service, or probation terms from the sentence being expunged.
- Unpaid victim restitution in states that require it, though at least one state has held that unpaid restitution alone cannot defeat a petition.
These are timing barriers rather than categorical exclusions, meaning you can refile once the condition is met. The categorical bans, on the other hand, do not expire. If your conviction falls within the violent felony, sex offense, child victim, domestic violence, or federal categories above, no amount of waiting changes the eligibility rule, and a post-conviction attorney is the right person to assess whether sealing, a pardon, or a certificate of rehabilitation offers an alternative.