Misdemeanor Paraphernalia Charge

[freakedout81]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Illinois

Hey, i was pulled over april 2008 with a friend of my boyfriends' in the car. he had weed and i had a pipe. sauk village police searched my car, and charged him with possession of weed and me with possession of paraphenelia. i hired a lawyer and went to my court date and my lawyer talked the court into giving me 15 hours of community service. i came back with 20 hours of community service and the judge looked over my paperwork, told me i was lucky and dismissed the case. Now my question is, did this go on my record? it was my first offense, and currently im trying to enroll in school to become a surgical technologist, and they wont allow me to start the program unless i have a clean background check. I'm trying so hard to make my life better, and this one stupid thing is haunting me. I wont be able to work in a hospital, or get my certification with a paraphenilia charge on my record. my boyfriend tells me that i wasnt convicted, and that it wont be on my record and not to worry about it. can anyone tell me if the judge would have dropped the whole charge because it was my first offense, and i did my community service? please help, i need someone to make me feel better about this.

[tc498]

Most place only care about a conviction,you don't have a criminal record.A deep check might find something,I think In Illinois they can't ask about if you were arrested if there no conviction,not sure thou.Most applactions asked have you ever been convictioned of a crime,or a felony or misdeamanor and you can answer no.

A deep back check might find a court record or something,you should look in to getting your arrest record sealed see if thats posabily b.c your case was dismissed. They might see the charge and then that it was dismissed.Your school should accept you b.c you weren't convicted of anything.

[freakedout81]

what exactly is a conviction? or i guess i should ask, how would i know if i was convicted, wouldnt the judge or somebody have told me?