Misdemeanor Convictions Falling Off of Criminal Records

[smichellem05]

I spoke to a law official about my misdemeanor and he said it wont stay on my record long. Is this true? I have heard the misdemeanors "fall" off your record after a certain amount of time. How credible is this? My friend who has a lot of misdemeanor charges (about a 3 page criminal report) said a lot of her offenses came of her report in the last 6 mnths. The charges that fell off were all misdemeanors that were 3 or four years old. can this really be true?

[aaron]

In every state I know of, absent an expungement, order sealing the record, or some similar remedy, a misdemeanor criminal record lasts the rest of your life.

[pesty]

The only record that drops your convictions is your driving record. And that varies from state to state. For instance in Indiana a speeding ticket will drop of your driving record after 3 years, a DUI drops off your driving record after years.

Don't confuse your driving record with your criminal history record. Using the same to examples as above. A speeding ticket goes into traffic court and a conviction will show only on your driving record. If you get a DUI conviction, it goes on both records because you not only got a ticket for driving under the influence, but you were also arrested.

In most states, providing you don't have a second DUI within a set amount of time, it will drop of your driving record, because you were issued a ticket. The DUI conviction will never fall off your arrest record.

A ticket is when you violate a parking or driving law that is considered minor in the eyes of the law. An arrest is when you break the law and is punishable by probation or jail time.

So in other words, if they take you to jail and the judge says "Your guilty", its going to stay on your record for the rest of your life.

You may want to check and see what record your friend is looking at. You're being mislead into believeing something that just could ruin your life for ever.

[garrula lingua]

A ticket is when you violate a [B]parking or driving law 
[/B]that is considered minor in the eyes of the law. An arrest
 is when you break the law and is punishable by probation or 
jail time. 

Not in my area of California ...

a ticket is just that - a citation to court on a particular date. It could be a misdemeanor (petty theft/ dui/ battery) or an infraction (speeding, littering, jaywalking). The person was simply not arrested & booked at that time.

And, I have seen people arrested on infractions (had no ID).