For most things in the life, the past is the past, and you should move on from it. After all, some say holding onto shame or grudges is like poison for your mind. But when it comes to criminal records, this ideology is not as simple. Criminal history is a permanent record that follows you all throughout your life. Even juvenile records are permanent. As a past offender in Indiana, you likely already know that your career opportunities are limited, and your criminal history has held you back from achieving your professional goals or obtaining a higher income. Well, the good news is that there might be a way for you to clean up your criminal history, and finally get a better job for your future and your family. We are talking about criminal record expungement, also known as Indiana’s 2nd Chance law.
Continue below to learn about Indiana’s Second Chance Law, and how it can help you improve your quality of life, professionally and beyond.
Indiana’s Second Chance Law
Here in Indiana, July 11th, 2014 was an important day for all Hoosiers who had criminal arrests and convictions on their permanent records. That is because Indiana legislature passed the Second Chance Law, which allows those who qualify to seal or remove criminal arrests and convictions from their criminal records. Upon approval, a person’s conviction or arrest is no longer accessible by the general public ever again, including employers.
How a Cleaner Record Can Get You a Better Job
Did you know that virtually 96% of all Indiana employers perform at least one type of background check? In fact, most employers use multiple types of background checks to educate themselves about their potential hire, including credit history scans, education verification, past employment verification, reference checks, social security trace, drug tests, sex offender registry checks, driving record scans, and nowadays, social media and internet checks.
But of all the possible background checks and scans employers can choose from to perform on potential hires, a criminal history check is always one of them. If you are equally qualified with another possible hire, but your criminal record shows an arrest or conviction in your past and the other hire has a clean record, you will likely be passed up on the job. In other cases, some corporate business models will not allow an employer to hire someone with a criminal record, even if they wanted to.
If your criminal record in Indiana were wiped clean of your past convictions and/or arrests, you could experience a whole other set of doors opening up for you in terms of a new career or better-paying job position. You can open yourself up to more promotions, professional licenses, and much more. A cleaner record will most certainly place you in front of a long list of applicants for any job you interview for.
Where to Get Help With Your Indiana Criminal Record Expungement Petition
You cannot just download an application and request that your criminal record is sealed or expunged. The criminal record expungement petitioning process is very serious and complex, so it requires the assistance of a well-versed Indiana criminal defense lawyer. Just one filling error, such as a missed spelled word, can get your petition denied. And the rule is, you can only apply once in your lifetime. So, you do not want to mess up your application, nor miss an important filing deadline. It is not free to expunge criminal records in Indiana, so be prepared to pay for filing and court fees, as well as lawyer fees.
Indianapolis Indiana Criminal Record Expungement as Low as $850
Call our Indianapolis expungement lawyers at 317-636-7514 if you have a criminal record in Indiana that you would like to clean up this year. Our law firm is well-versed in the Indiana criminal record expungement laws, and charges as low as $850 for our services. Whether you are looking to seal or expunge a criminal record, we are the criminal lawyers to trust for a hassle-free petitioning process. Contact us to get started, and do so soon, before this unpopular law is repealed!