Pennsylvania Expungement Laws: Clean Slate, Sealing, and Eligibility (2026)

Pennsylvania gives residents three distinct pathways to clear or restrict access to criminal records: traditional expungement under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122, petition-based limited access (sealing) under § 9122.1, and automatic Clean Slate sealing under § 9122.2, which Pennsylvania pioneered in 2018 and expanded by Act 36 of 2023 (effective February 12, 2024).

Information last verified on May 29, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Pennsylvania state criminal records only. For a comparison across all states, see Expungement Laws by State.

What Expungement Means in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania law uses two different remedies that people often conflate. Expungement, governed by 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122, means the physical removal or destruction of criminal history record information from the repositories of the Pennsylvania State Police and all reporting agencies. Once expunged, the record no longer exists in the state system for background check purposes.

Limited access (also called sealing), governed by §§ 9122.1 and 9122.2, is a different remedy. A limited access order prohibits courts and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts from disseminating a criminal history record to the public, noncriminal justice agencies, or internet background check websites. The record still exists; law enforcement and criminal justice agencies retain full access at all times. Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9121(b.1) and (b.2), limited access records may still be disclosed in narrower circumstances: to a county children and youth agency or the Department of Human Services, under a child-custody or protection-from-abuse court order, to an employer defending a civil-liability claim, when federal law requires consideration of an applicant's criminal history for employment, to the Supreme Court for bar-admission and law-practice purposes, to verify a candidate's eligibility for public office, and to the Department of Human Services for other legally required verifications.

The practical difference matters when applying for jobs that involve the situations listed in the statute, such as federally required background screening or work with children and youth agencies. Knowing which remedy you can seek determines what employers and agencies will see.

Traditional Expungement Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122

Traditional expungement under § 9122 applies to a narrow set of circumstances. The statute mandates expungement for non-conviction records, meaning arrests or charges that did not result in a conviction, including acquittals, dismissals, nolle prosequi dispositions, and cases where no disposition was entered within 18 months of arrest and the court certifies that none is available.

Acquittal is handled automatically, with no petition. Under § 9122(a)(4), where a person is acquitted of all charges based on the same conduct or arising from the same criminal episode following a trial and a verdict of not guilty, the court provides notice in writing to the person and to the Commonwealth that the person's criminal history record information will be automatically expunged. The Commonwealth then has 60 days to object, and the statute limits the ground for that objection to the claim that the person has not been acquitted of all charges. Expungement must occur no later than 12 months from the date of acquittal. A fully acquitted person does not have to file a petition, pay a county filing fee, or order a State Police records check to obtain this relief.

For conviction records, § 9122 permits expungement only in limited situations:

• Summary offense convictions: A person may petition for expungement if five years have passed since the date of conviction and the petitioner has remained free of arrest or prosecution for that five-year period.
• Age 70 rule: A person age 70 or older may petition if at least ten years have passed since the most recent release from confinement or supervision and the person has no arrests or prosecutions during that ten-year window.
• Death: § 9122(b)(2) permits expungement where the individual who is the subject of the information has been dead for three years. The statute sets no rule about who may bring the matter to the court.
• Unconditional pardon: A recipient of an unconditional pardon from the Governor may petition for expungement of the pardoned offense.
• Minor alcohol offense: A person age 21 or older convicted of a § 6308 underage drinking offense committed after age 18 may petition after satisfying all sentence terms.

A critical limit: § 9122 does not authorize courts to expunge misdemeanor or felony conviction records except through the pardon pathway. For those records, the sealing pathways under §§ 9122.1 and 9122.2 are the operative remedies.

Courts cannot order expungement of an arrest record when a defendant received Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) for specified sexual offenses against minors, including rape, statutory sexual assault, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse under § 9122(b.1).

Petition-Based Limited Access Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122.1

Section 9122.1 creates a petition-based pathway to seal conviction records that fall outside the Clean Slate automatic process. A person files a petition in the court of common pleas in the county where the conviction occurred.

For misdemeanors and ungraded offenses with a maximum penalty of five years: The petitioner must demonstrate at least seven conviction-free years for any offense punishable by imprisonment of one or more years, plus payment of all court-ordered restitution.

For qualifying felonies: The petitioner must show at least ten conviction-free years and full restitution payment. Section 9122.1(a.1) opens this pathway to four categories of felony conviction, "excluding felonies of the first and second degrees": criminal mischief (§ 3304), criminal trespass (§ 3503), theft and related offenses under Chapter 39, and forgery and fraudulent practices under Chapter 41. A conviction graded as a first-degree or second-degree felony is barred even when it falls in one of those four categories.

Categorical bars: No limited access order may be granted for any offense punishable by more than two years that is classified as an Article B offense (crimes involving danger to the person, with the exception of misdemeanor terroristic threats), an Article D offense (family offenses), a Chapter 61 firearms violation, a sex offense subject to registration under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.14 or § 9799.55, or a corruption of minors offense under § 6301(a)(1).

The court notifies the district attorney within 10 days of a petition filing. The district attorney has 30 days to file objections. If no timely objection is filed and the eligibility requirements are met, the court may grant the petition without further hearing. Upon entry of an order, the central repository notifies all reporting agencies to restrict dissemination.

Clean Slate Automatic Sealing Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122.2

Pennsylvania enacted the Clean Slate Act in 2018 (Act 56 of 2018, approved June 28, 2018) as the first automatic record sealing law in the United States. Section 5 of Act 56 delayed its operative dates: the amendment of § 9122.1 took effect in 180 days, and the remainder of the act, including the addition of § 9122.2 itself, took effect in 365 days, on June 28, 2019. Act 36 of 2023 (signed December 14, 2023) significantly expanded the law. Most expanded provisions took effect February 12, 2024, with automatic processing of summary offenses fully operative by June 11, 2024.

Under § 9122.2, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts identifies eligible records and generates limited access orders without any petition from the record holder. The Pennsylvania State Police then notifies all relevant agencies. The following categories are eligible:

Non-conviction records (§ 9122.2(a)(2)): Charges that resulted in a final disposition other than a conviction seal automatically. This includes dismissals, acquittals, and nolle prosequi dispositions regardless of when they occurred.

Summary offense convictions (§ 9122.2(a)(3)): As amended by Act 36, summary convictions seal automatically once five years have elapsed since entry of the judgment of conviction and payment of all court-ordered restitution has occurred. Prior to Act 36, the waiting period was ten years.

Misdemeanor convictions (§ 9122.2(a)(1)): Second-degree misdemeanors, third-degree misdemeanors, and misdemeanors punishable by no more than two years imprisonment seal automatically after seven conviction-free years, with all court-ordered restitution paid. Act 36 reduced this from ten years.

Qualifying offense convictions (§ 9122.2(a)(1.1)): Added by Act 36, this new category covers certain drug felony convictions, as defined by the "qualifying offense" definition in 18 Pa.C.S. § 9102. Eligible records seal automatically after ten conviction-free years with full restitution payment. A drug felony conviction is ineligible for this category if a minimum sentence of 30 months or more of imprisonment was imposed, or if a maximum sentence of 60 months or more of imprisonment was imposed, which excludes drug trafficking and higher-level drug felonies from the automatic pathway. Property felonies such as criminal mischief, criminal trespass, theft, and forgery are not part of this automatic category; they may be sealed only through the petition-based process under § 9122.1 after ten conviction-free years, and only where the conviction is not graded as a first-degree or second-degree felony.

Conditionally pardoned records (§ 9122.2(a)(4)): Records of convictions for which the Governor granted a conditional pardon are subject to automatic limited access once the Board of Pardons transmits the relevant notice to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

Sealed records remain sealed even if a person later becomes eligible for expungement through a separate pathway. Sealing under § 9122.2 does not prevent law enforcement and courts from accessing the underlying record, and it does not override the narrow disclosures listed in § 9121(b.1) and (b.2), such as child-custody or protection-from-abuse proceedings, an employer defending a civil-liability claim, federally required employment screening, and bar-admission or public-office eligibility verification.

How to File for Expungement or Petition-Based Limited Access

If you were acquitted of every charge, you do not use this process. Expungement of a full acquittal is automatic under § 9122(a)(4), so there is no petition, no county filing fee, and no $20 State Police records fee. The same is true of Clean Slate sealing under § 9122.2. The steps below apply to the § 9122 petition situations (summary offense, age 70, death, pardon, minor alcohol offense) and to § 9122.1 limited access petitions.

For those matters, the process runs through the county court of common pleas where the conviction or arrest occurred. Here is the sequence:

1. Obtain your criminal history record. Request a certified copy from the Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository using Form SP 4-170. The fee is $20, payable by certified check or money order to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The report must be obtained within 60 days before filing the petition with the court.

2. Complete the correct petition form. The Unified Judicial System provides Pa.R.Crim.P. 790 petition forms for expungement at the court of common pleas level. For limited access petitions under § 9122.1, courts use Pa.R.Crim.P. 791. County clerks of courts also maintain local packet forms.

3. File with the Clerk of Courts. File in the county where the offense occurred. Filing costs vary by county. Montgomery County, for example, lists a base fee of approximately $176.50 to cover service on one agency, with an additional $13.50 per additional agency listed on the order. Contact your county Clerk of Courts for current local fees.

4. Notice to the district attorney. For § 9122.1 limited access petitions, the court provides notice of the filing to the district attorney within 10 days, and the district attorney then has 30 days from receipt of that notice to file objections.

5. Court review and order. If no objection is filed and eligibility is confirmed, the judge enters the order. The clerk forwards the signed order to the Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository, which updates the record and notifies all reporting agencies.

6. Clean Slate records: No action is required. Eligible records seal automatically on the next monthly processing run. Individuals who believe an eligible record has not been sealed may contact the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

The full process from filing to completed record update typically takes several months, depending on county caseload and whether the district attorney objects.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Pennsylvania expungement and record sealing law as of May 29, 2026. It does not constitute legal advice and has not been reviewed by a licensed Pennsylvania attorney. Individual circumstances affect eligibility. Consult a licensed Pennsylvania criminal defense attorney before filing any petition.

Related Articles

• Expungement Laws by State
• DUI Expungement by State: Which States Allow It
• How to Check If Your Record Has Been Expunged

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Pennsylvania expungement and record sealing information. Verified May 29, 2026. Consult a licensed Pennsylvania attorney for advice specific to your situation.

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