July 28, 2017

Raleigh, N.C. — Some people convicted of crimes in North Carolina will soon find it easier to clear their records.

Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday signed into a law a measure that changes the process by which criminal records are expunged. The new law, which takes effect in December, standardizes the petition people seeking expungement must file, reduces the waiting time for expungement of a first-time nonviolent felony from 15 years to 10 years and to five years for a nonviolent misdemeanor and eliminates a restriction on someone obtaining multiple expungements if prior charges were dismissed or the person was acquitted in court.

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