Does an expungement erase my record completely “off the books”?
The simple answer is no. Any criminal record is always going to be seen if someone runs a background check. What an expungement does is it allows you to tell an employer you’ve never been convicted and if they check, it will show that your record has been dismissed. Even if you expunge your record, an old conviction can be used to enhance the penalties in a new criminal case that you’ve picked up. Prosecutors can always use old cases to enhance penalties, whether they are expunged or not. Also, an expungement does not return your right to possess firearms or relieve you of your duty to register as a sex offender for life pursuant to Penal Code Section 290.
