Convicts of nonviolent Class C and D felonies no longer have to wait 5 years to get an expungement, and most misdemeanants no longer have to wait 60 days. However, some misdemeanants still have to wait 5 years (Animal Cruelty, Domestic Battery, etc), and as of July 2021, DWIs have to wait 10 years before they can be expunged. If you were convicted prior to July 2021 of DWI, you might be able to get it sealed after 5 years, but you will probably have to appeal to the Arkansas Court of Appeals before that is granted.
Class A and B convictions that are in the 5-64-401 chapter (drug and drug related convictions)
Also, the $50 fee has been eliminated for all requests to seal, so there are no more court costs associated with filing an expungement in Arkansas. This law went into effect on July 24th, 2019. Click here to see the entire bill on the Arkansas Legislature website. If that link breaks down, I’ve attached the images of the bill to the bottom of this blog post.
The legislature was considering automatically sealing or expunging Arkansas criminal records, however that measure failed. See
https://wreg.com/2019/02/22/arkansas-bill-would-automatically-seal-some-criminal-records/
This particular blog post is not particularly informative, but if you click on the links below it should answer your questions about Arkansas expungements completely.
If you need help in Fort Smith, Van Buren, or Fayetteville, Arkansas about expungements, give one of our attorneys a call or shoot us an email at (479) 782-1125 or email@ArkansasLawKing.com
This is a complicated issue. This blog is not legal advice. We do not represent you.
I’ve written blogs on the two most common statutes used to expunge misdemeanors and felonies in Arkansas and they are:
The Arkansas Felony Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act of 2013.
The Arkansas Misdemeanor Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act of 2013.
The rest of the Arkansas expungement statutes are much rarer:
The First Offender Act (Act 346) of 1975 ACA 16-93-301.
The Arkansas Youthful Offender Alternative Service Act.
The Arkansas Uniform Expungement Act of 1995 (repealed, don’t read this one).
Arkansas Drug Court Expungements
Arkansas Juvenile Expungements (ACA 9-27-309).
