Is the expungement statute 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122 or 42 Pa.C.S. § 9122?

It's 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122. People sometimes search '42 Pa.C.S. § 9122' because so much of the record-keeping and Clean Slate machinery sits in Title 42, but the expungement authority itself is codified in Title 18.

Can a felony conviction ever be expunged in Pennsylvania?

Not under § 9122 on its own. A standard felony or misdemeanor conviction generally requires a gubernatorial pardon before a post-pardon expungement petition can be filed; § 9122's mandatory and discretionary categories don't reach ordinary convictions.

How long does an arrest have to be off my record before I can expunge a summary conviction?

Five years free of arrest or prosecution following the summary conviction, under § 9122(b)(3). Any new arrest or prosecution during that window can reset the clock.

Is expungement automatic once someone turns 70?

No. Section 9122(b) makes it discretionary — the person also needs ten years free of arrest or prosecution, and the court still weighs the offense and the person's history before granting the petition.

What's the difference between expungement and Clean Slate sealing?

Expungement under § 9122 removes the case from public record entirely. Clean Slate sealing under § 9122.2 restricts public access to many eligible convictions but leaves the underlying record intact for law enforcement, courts, and certain licensing and employment screens.

Does an ARD dismissal automatically get expunged?

Not automatically — successful ARD completion under § 3807 leads to dismissal of the underlying charges, but a separate expungement petition under § 9122(a)(2) still needs to be filed to actually clear the arrest record.

What if my case doesn't fit any of the § 9122 categories?

Then expungement isn't available, and the realistic options are a Board of Pardons application or, if the conviction is eligible, a Clean Slate sealing petition under § 9122.2 rather than expungement.

Expungements & Pardons · Expungement Eligibility

Expungement in Pennsylvania is available for specific categories of cases — not for every old record.

People frequently assume that enough time or good behavior automatically clears a record. It doesn't. Expungement in Pennsylvania is governed by 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122, and it applies to a defined list of situations: charges that never resulted in a conviction, cases resolved through Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, certain summary convictions after five arrest-free years under § 9122(b)(3), and a narrow discretionary category for people 70 or older with ten arrest-free years, or for a defendant who has been dead for three years. Outside those categories — meaning most misdemeanor and felony convictions — expungement is not available at all, and the only path to erasing the underlying conviction is a gubernatorial pardon followed by a post-pardon expungement petition. This page walks through who actually qualifies, what the statute requires, and why Clean Slate sealing under § 9122.2 is a separate and more limited remedy that leaves the conviction record in place rather than erasing it. I handle expungement petitions across Dauphin, Cumberland, York, Adams, Perry, Franklin, and Lancaster counties, and figuring out which category — if any — applies is the first step before any petition gets filed.

Call (717) 724-7503 Schedule a consultation

Free & confidential · Usually a same-day callback

How the remedy works

Pennsylvania Expungement Eligibility.

Authority: 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122[1][2]

Record relief, in context

Whether a record qualifies for expungement depends entirely on how the case ended — pulling the actual docket before filing anything is the difference between a clean petition and a denied one.

expungement & pardon lawyer · pardon vs. expungement · DUI expungement

Section 9122(a) makes expungement mandatory in three situations: the person has been found not guilty, the charges were withdrawn or dismissed (including a nolle prosequi), or the person completed a court-supervised diversion program like ARD under § 3807 and the case was subsequently dismissed. In those non-conviction situations, the statute doesn't give a judge discretion to deny the petition once the underlying facts are established — the record is a non-conviction and the person is entitled to have it expunged, subject to the Commonwealth's opportunity to object and be heard.

Section 9122(b)(3) also allows a court to expunge a summary conviction once the person has been free of arrest or prosecution for five years following that conviction. This is one of the few categories where an actual conviction — not just an arrest or a dismissed charge — can be erased, but it's limited to summary offenses, the least serious category under Pennsylvania law, and it requires a clean five-year stretch afterward.

Section 9122(b) adds a discretionary category on top of the mandatory one: a court may expunge the record of a conviction where the person is 70 years of age or older and has been free of arrest or prosecution for ten years following that conviction, or where the person has been dead for three years. Because this category is discretionary, the court weighs the nature of the offense, the person's history since, and the Commonwealth's position — it isn't automatic even when the age and time requirements are met.

What § 9122 does not do is provide a route to expunge a standard misdemeanor or felony conviction that doesn't fall into one of those categories. A theft conviction, a DUI conviction, an assault conviction — those stay on the record permanently absent a gubernatorial pardon under the state constitution's pardon power, followed by a Board of Pardons recommendation and a post-pardon expungement petition. That process is slower and far less certain than a straightforward expungement petition, which is why an accurate read of which category applies matters before anyone spends money filing.

Eligibility at a glance

What qualifies — and what does not.

Pennsylvania Expungement Eligibility: eligibility categories under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122
Situation	What the law allows	Condition
Acquittal (not guilty verdict)	Mandatory expungement under § 9122(a)(1)	Applies once the case is fully concluded and any appeal period has run.
Charges withdrawn or dismissed, including nolle prosequi	Mandatory expungement under § 9122(a)(1)	Covers cases the DA declines to pursue or that a judge dismisses before trial.
Successful completion of ARD	Mandatory expungement under § 9122(a)(2) once the case is formally dismissed	Applies to DUI, drug, and other ARD dispositions after the program's conditions are met.
Summary conviction	Expungement under § 9122(b)(3) after 5 years arrest-free	Requires a genuinely clean record — no new arrests or prosecutions — during that window.
Age 70 or older with a conviction on record	Discretionary expungement under § 9122(b)(1) after 10 years arrest-free	Court weighs the offense and post-conviction history; not guaranteed even if the age and time thresholds are met.
Deceased defendant	Discretionary expungement under § 9122(b)(2) after 3 years	Typically pursued by a family member or estate representative.
Standard misdemeanor or felony conviction, no ARD or diversion involved	Not eligible for expungement under § 9122	The only realistic path is a governor's pardon followed by a post-pardon expungement petition; sealing under § 9122.2 may be a separate, more limited option.

Eligibility categories are statutory, but how a specific docket is graded and disposed controls which category applies. Nothing here is a prediction about a particular record.

The process

Step by step.

Step 1
Confirm the disposition on the docket
Before filing anything, pull the actual case docket to confirm exactly how the case ended — acquittal, ARD dismissal, withdrawal, or conviction — since the disposition, not memory of the case, controls which category of § 9122 applies.
Step 2
Identify the correct expungement category
Match the disposition to the specific § 9122 subsection: non-conviction under § 9122(a), summary conviction after five years under § 9122(b)(3), or the age/death categories under § 9122(b)(1)–(2). Cases that don't fit any category typically get flagged for a pardon consultation instead.
Step 3
Draft and file the petition
The petition is filed in the Court of Common Pleas (or the magisterial district court for a purely summary case) in the county where the charge was filed, along with certified docket information and the required filing fee.
Step 4
Serve the District Attorney's office
The DA's office is entitled to notice and can object, particularly in discretionary § 9122(b) cases; in mandatory non-conviction cases, objections are less common but the DA still reviews the petition.
Step 5
Hearing, if required
Some counties resolve routine non-conviction petitions without a hearing; discretionary petitions and any petition the DA opposes typically get a hearing date before the judge rules.
Step 6
Order transmitted to state and federal repositories
Once granted, the expungement order goes to the clerk of courts, the Pennsylvania State Police, and, where applicable, the FBI, each of which has a compliance window to update its records.

Jurisdiction & venue

Where the petition is filed.

Dauphin and Cumberland counties

Both counties' Courts of Common Pleas handle non-conviction and discretionary expungement petitions through their clerk of courts offices, with summary-only cases typically routed to the magisterial district judge who handled the original citation. The Dauphin County and Cumberland County District Attorney's offices each maintain a process for reviewing expungement petitions and flagging any objection before the assigned judge rules.

York and Adams counties

York County's Court of Common Pleas and the York County DA's expungement review process follow the same statutory framework, with local filing requirements and fee schedules set by the clerk of courts. Adams County, being smaller, often moves petitions through more quickly, but MDJ-level summary cases still need to be traced back to the correct magisterial district court for the underlying disposition.

Perry and Franklin counties

Perry and Franklin counties handle expungement filings through their respective Courts of Common Pleas clerk of courts, and both counties' DA's offices review petitions for accuracy before any hearing is scheduled. Rural counties can have fewer petitions moving through the system at once, which sometimes means more individualized attention from the clerk but not necessarily faster review.

Lancaster County

Lancaster County's Court of Common Pleas processes a high volume of expungement petitions, and its DA's office has a dedicated review function for non-conviction and ARD-based filings. Because Lancaster's docket volume is larger than the surrounding counties, petitioners should expect the process to run on the county's own internal timeline rather than a fixed statewide schedule.

Where these petitions are won or lost.

Confirm the disposition before promising anything
Docket entries can be ambiguous — a case that 'went away' informally isn't the same as a formal dismissal, and only the latter supports a § 9122(a) petition.
Don't confuse '42 Pa.C.S. § 9122' with the actual citation
The expungement statute lives in Title 18, not Title 42; searches that turn up '42 Pa.C.S. § 9122' are referencing the wrong title and can lead to filing under the wrong authority.
Check for multiple dockets from the same arrest
A single arrest can generate more than one docket number, and all of them need to be captured in the petition or a partial record survives the process.
Address outstanding costs and restitution first
Unpaid court costs or restitution tied to the case can complicate or delay a petition; resolving those balances before filing avoids an easily preventable objection.
Distinguish expungement from Clean Slate sealing
Clean Slate under § 9122.2 seals many eligible convictions from public view but does not erase them the way § 9122 expungement does; the two remedies solve different problems and aren't interchangeable.
Evaluate the pardon route early for ineligible convictions
Where a conviction doesn't fit any § 9122 category, a Board of Pardons application is a multi-year process; starting the pardon conversation early, rather than after other options are exhausted, matters given the realistic timeline.

Where we file

Record relief across Central Pennsylvania.

Other record-relief guides.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

Common questions about expungement eligibility in Pennsylvania — eligibility, procedure, and what the order actually changes.

It's 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122. People sometimes search '42 Pa.C.S. § 9122' because so much of the record-keeping and Clean Slate machinery sits in Title 42, but the expungement authority itself is codified in Title 18.
Not under § 9122 on its own. A standard felony or misdemeanor conviction generally requires a gubernatorial pardon before a post-pardon expungement petition can be filed; § 9122's mandatory and discretionary categories don't reach ordinary convictions.
Five years free of arrest or prosecution following the summary conviction, under § 9122(b)(3). Any new arrest or prosecution during that window can reset the clock.
No. Section 9122(b) makes it discretionary — the person also needs ten years free of arrest or prosecution, and the court still weighs the offense and the person's history before granting the petition.
Expungement under § 9122 removes the case from public record entirely. Clean Slate sealing under § 9122.2 restricts public access to many eligible convictions but leaves the underlying record intact for law enforcement, courts, and certain licensing and employment screens.
Not automatically — successful ARD completion under § 3807 leads to dismissal of the underlying charges, but a separate expungement petition under § 9122(a)(2) still needs to be filed to actually clear the arrest record.
Then expungement isn't available, and the realistic options are a Board of Pardons application or, if the conviction is eligible, a Clean Slate sealing petition under § 9122.2 rather than expungement.

[1]18 Pa.C.S. § 9122 — Expungement of criminal history record information.
[2]18 Pa.C.S. § 9122.1 — Limited access (sealing) of criminal records; Clean Slate framework.
[3]18 Pa.C.S. § 9122.2 — Clean Slate automated limited access — the sealing that happens by court order without a petition once the statutory waiting periods and payment conditions are met.
[4]18 Pa.C.S. § 9121 — General regulations on dissemination of criminal history record information, including what remains available after sealing.
[5]18 Pa.C.S. § 9102 — Criminal History Record Information Act definitions — including 'expunge' and 'criminal history record information'.
[6]75 Pa.C.S. § 3807 — Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) for DUI.
[7]Pa. Const. art. IV, § 9 — The Governor's pardon and commutation power — exercisable only on the written recommendation of a majority of the Board of Pardons.
[8]37 Pa. Code Ch. 81 — Board of Pardons regulations — application, merit review, public hearing, and recommendation procedure.

Statutes are summarized for public reference. Confirm current text at palegis.us. This page is attorney advertising, not legal advice.

Free consultation · Calls answered now

The sooner we talk, the more we can do.

Every hour matters in a DUI or criminal case. Call directly and speak with Attorney Quinlan — not an intake desk.