Virginia will allow for some criminal records to be sealed next year

Next summer, certain people with past convictions will be eligible to apply for their criminal records to be sealed — meaning long-past convictions won’t show up on background checks. 

This can help people who have been formerly incarcerated and rehabilitated get a fresh start when applying for jobs, loans or apartments. The process stems from a 2021 law that underwent several years of workshopping before its delayed implementation.

Starting next summer, people with some misdemeanor and felony convictions will be able to petition to have their records sealed. For felonies, people need to have had no new convictions for 10 years to be eligible, while people with misdemeanor convictions need to have no new convictions in seven years. People with Class 1 or 2 felony convictions, typically violent crimes, or charges that carry life sentences are not eligible. And petitioners must not have been convicted of a Class 3 or Class 4 felony within 20 years. 

For people with misdemeanors that might have been dismissed but still appear on records, expungement of records is a separate process they can seek out through their local circuit courts. 

While expungement has been a limited option for people in Virginia, record-sealing is new. 

The 2021 law’s rollout has been slowed down to give circuit court clerks time to prepare for waves of people who would seek a sealing, determine how far back in court records would be permitted (prior to the 1980s, most courts weren’t digitized), and compromise on the types of crimes that are eligible. 

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, virtually joined a panel of criminal justice experts Wednesday in Richmond to discuss the law’s evolution and the journey for beneficiaries that lies ahead. 

“It was important to get the system up and running and functioning,” Surovell said, noting that updates to Virginia’s digital criminal record-keeping that can help streamline the process have been underway in recent years. 

And while he, Del. Rae Cousins, D-Richmond, and Suffolk Circuit Court Clerk Randy Carter suspect the law will need further tweaking, they celebrated the fact that it’s come to fruition.

With a start date of July 1, 2026, Surovell said dozens of constituents have already reached out to him to express excitement. Surovell said that one of those people had a larceny charge in his youth that has “followed him around” for decades. 

Likewise, Cousins stressed her support for the law. 

“It is laws like this that make it easier for people who have taken accountability who have also served their time, who have rehabilitated themselves to actually get out and have a second chance at life.”

Lawyer George Townsend, who moderated the panel, said the law inspired him to found a firm called Clean Slate Virginia, specifically focused on record-sealing cases. 

He said he saw the law as a “game changer” for helping people get their lives back on track and reduce recidivism. 

With a little more than a year before the law is effective, the panel acknowledged that public outreach about the new law will help let potential petitioners know they have this option.

This article first appeared on Virginia Mercury and is republished here with permission. Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence.