What kinds of summary offenses can be expunged this way?

Disorderly conduct, summary retail theft, harassment charged and resolved as a summary, public drunkenness, some underage-drinking citations, and other minor summary convictions can all qualify once the five-year window has passed.

Can I expunge a traffic ticket the same way?

Generally no. Most Title 75 Vehicle Code summary convictions live on your PennDOT driving record rather than a criminal-history record, and PennDOT applies its own retention rules rather than the § 9122 expungement framework.

Where do I file the expungement petition?

Under Pa.R.Crim.P. 490, the petition goes to whichever court handled the original summary case — usually the magisterial district judge, though some cases proceed through the court of common pleas.

Does an arrest that didn't lead to a conviction reset the five-year clock?

It can complicate eligibility. The statute requires no arrest or prosecution during the five-year window, so even a case that was later dismissed can be relevant and should be reviewed before filing.

Do I need a lawyer to file a Rule 490 petition?

Not always, but confirming the correct filing venue, gathering the supporting criminal-history documentation, and making sure the district attorney's office is properly served are the parts most likely to cause a rejected or delayed filing without help.

Expungements & Pardons · Summary Offense Expungement

Summary convictions don't clear on their own — even five years later.

Summary offenses are Pennsylvania's lowest-level convictions, but they still show up on criminal-history background checks unless someone files to remove them. Section 9122(b)(3) allows expungement of a summary conviction once five years have passed since the conviction with no arrests or prosecutions during that window. That covers a wide range of dispositions — disorderly conduct, summary retail theft, harassment, underage drinking, and other minor charges that got resolved with a guilty plea or a finding of guilt rather than a diversion or dismissal. The petition process runs through Pa.R.Crim.P. 490, filed either with the magisterial district judge who handled the case or the court of common pleas, and I handle these petitions across Dauphin, Cumberland, York, and Adams counties.

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How the remedy works

Summary Offense Expungement in Pennsylvania.

Authority: 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122(b)(3)[1][2]

Record relief, in context

A summary conviction from years ago rarely feels urgent, but it still shows up on background checks until someone files — the five-year wait is the hard part; the paperwork afterward is manageable.

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

Section 9122(b)(3) sets the standard: a person convicted of a summary offense may petition for expungement once five years have elapsed since the conviction, provided the person has not been arrested or prosecuted for any offense during that five-year period. Unlike an ARD dismissal or an acquittal — where expungement is essentially automatic once eligibility is met — a summary conviction requires the person to affirmatively wait out the clean period and then file.

This pathway covers a broad category of low-level dispositions: disorderly conduct under § 5503, summary retail theft convictions, harassment charges resolved as summaries, underage-drinking citations that didn't qualify for the separate § 6308(d) pathway, and various municipal and quality-of-life summary offenses. It does not, by itself, cover felony or misdemeanor convictions, which have their own — generally much more limited — expungement and sealing rules.

Filing runs under Pa.R.Crim.P. 490, and where the case is filed depends on how it was originally prosecuted: many summary cases stay entirely within the magisterial district court system, so the petition is filed there; others that were appealed or handled at the court of common pleas level get filed with that court instead. Getting the venue right the first time avoids a bounced petition.

One distinction that trips people up: Title 75 (Vehicle Code) summary convictions — most traffic tickets — are treated differently from Title 18 criminal summary offenses. A Vehicle Code summary conviction generally lives on your PennDOT driving record rather than a criminal-history database, and PennDOT applies its own retention and point-system rules rather than the § 9122 expungement framework. Some traffic-related summaries with criminal elements can still qualify for expungement under § 9122, but a driver's license points-and-suspension history is a separate system that doesn't get cleared the same way.

Eligibility at a glance

What qualifies — and what does not.

Summary Offense Expungement in Pennsylvania: eligibility categories under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122(b)(3)
Situation	What the law allows	Condition
Summary conviction, five years arrest-free since the conviction	Expungement available under § 9122(b)(3)	The five-year clock runs from the date of conviction, not the date of the underlying offense, and resets if you were arrested or prosecuted again during that window
Disorderly conduct (§ 5503) summary conviction	Eligible after the five-year waiting period	A common candidate for this pathway, especially where it was the person's only offense
Summary retail theft conviction	Eligible after five arrest-free years	Retail theft summaries frequently arise from first-time, low-value shoplifting charges resolved without a diversion program
Harassment (§ 2709) charged and resolved as a summary	Eligible after five arrest-free years	Where the charge was graded and disposed of as a summary rather than a misdemeanor
Underage drinking summary not resolved through § 6308(d)	Eligible under the general five-year summary rule instead	Some underage-drinking cases don't fit the age-21 pathway and instead rely on this standard summary-expungement rule
Public drunkenness (§ 5505) summary conviction	Eligible after five arrest-free years	A frequent companion charge to other minor offenses, and independently expungeable on its own timeline
Title 75 traffic summary conviction	Generally governed by PennDOT's driving-record rules, not § 9122	Some traffic-related summaries with criminal elements may still qualify for court expungement, but routine moving violations live on the PennDOT record and follow different retention rules

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 conviction date and the five-year clock
Pull the docket to confirm exactly when the summary conviction was entered and verify there have been no arrests or new prosecutions in the five years since.
Step 2
Identify the correct filing venue
Determine whether the petition belongs with the magisterial district judge who handled the original case or the court of common pleas, based on how the case was originally processed.
Step 3
Prepare the Rule 490 petition
The petition sets out the docket number, the offense, the conviction date, and the basis for eligibility under § 9122(b)(3), along with supporting criminal-history documentation.
Step 4
Serve the district attorney's office
The DA's office is entitled to notice and can object, though objections are uncommon where the five-year, arrest-free eligibility standard is clearly met.
Step 5
Court review and order
The magisterial district judge or court of common pleas reviews the petition and, absent an objection or unresolved eligibility question, enters an order directing expungement.
Step 6
Distribution and confirmation
The order goes to the relevant clerk of courts, magisterial district court records, and Pennsylvania State Police; a follow-up certified criminal-history check confirms the record was actually removed.

Jurisdiction & venue

Where the petition is filed.

Dauphin County

Summary cases originally handled by a Dauphin County magisterial district judge are typically petitioned there directly; the Dauphin County DA's office reviews and responds to Rule 490 petitions.

Cumberland County

Cumberland County's several magisterial district courts each retain their own summary dockets, so confirming the specific MDJ office that handled the original case matters before filing.

York County

York County processes a high volume of summary expungement petitions, and the county's DA expungement unit generally reviews these filings for eligibility before the court signs an order.

Adams County

Adams County's smaller docket can mean a faster turnaround on Rule 490 petitions, but the same five-year, arrest-free standard applies regardless of county size.

Perry and Franklin Counties

Both counties route summary expungement petitions through the local magisterial district judge or court of common pleas depending on how the underlying case was resolved, with the DA's office reviewing each filing.

Lancaster County

Lancaster's magisterial district court system handles a large summary-offense caseload, and its clerk of courts and DA's office are accustomed to processing Rule 490 petitions on a regular basis.

Where these petitions are won or lost.

Confirm the clean five years precisely
Any arrest or new prosecution — even one that didn't lead to a conviction — during the five-year window can reset or complicate eligibility, so verify the full record before filing.
File in the right court the first time
Filing a Rule 490 petition with the wrong venue — common pleas instead of the original MDJ, or vice versa — causes delay; confirm where the original disposition was entered.
Bundle multiple eligible summaries
Where someone has more than one old summary conviction that each independently qualify, addressing them together can be more efficient than filing separate petitions over time.
Don't confuse traffic tickets with criminal summaries
A Title 75 speeding or minor moving-violation conviction generally isn't cleared through this process; know which system your record actually sits in before spending time on the wrong petition.
Check for related records the petition should also cover
Some summary cases were originally charged alongside other counts that were dismissed or resolved separately; a single case can have multiple records worth cleaning up together.
Verify actual removal afterward
As with any expungement, get a certified Pennsylvania State Police report after the order is entered to confirm the record was actually purged rather than assuming the order alone did the work.

Where we file

Record relief across Central Pennsylvania.

Other record-relief guides.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

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

Five years from the date of conviction, with no arrests or prosecutions during that period, under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122(b)(3).
Disorderly conduct, summary retail theft, harassment charged and resolved as a summary, public drunkenness, some underage-drinking citations, and other minor summary convictions can all qualify once the five-year window has passed.
Generally no. Most Title 75 Vehicle Code summary convictions live on your PennDOT driving record rather than a criminal-history record, and PennDOT applies its own retention rules rather than the § 9122 expungement framework.
Under Pa.R.Crim.P. 490, the petition goes to whichever court handled the original summary case — usually the magisterial district judge, though some cases proceed through the court of common pleas.
It can complicate eligibility. The statute requires no arrest or prosecution during the five-year window, so even a case that was later dismissed can be relevant and should be reviewed before filing.
Not always, but confirming the correct filing venue, gathering the supporting criminal-history documentation, and making sure the district attorney's office is properly served are the parts most likely to cause a rejected or delayed filing without help.

[1]18 Pa.C.S. § 9122 — Expungement of criminal history record information.
[2]Pa.R.Crim.P. 490 — Procedure for obtaining expungement in summary cases — petition contents, service, and the Commonwealth's response window.
[3]18 Pa.C.S. § 6308 — Purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of alcohol by a minor.
[4]18 Pa.C.S. § 5503 — Disorderly conduct — summary offense; M3 with intent to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience, or persistence after a reasonable warning.
[5]18 Pa.C.S. § 5505 — Public drunkenness — summary offense; fine only, higher for subsequent offenses.

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

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