New York State’s Clean Slate Act
New York State’s Clean Slate Act takes effect November 16, 2024. It provides the Unified Court System up to three years from that date (until November 16, 2027) to set up the required processes to automatically seal eligible conviction records. Once that work is complete, convictions that are eligible will be sealed for certain civil background check purposes.
The law lets individuals or their lawyers ask for a review of their convictions if they think they should have been sealed but were not. A form will be available on our website to request this review no later than the implementation date of November 16, 2027.
NOTE: Some convictions, such as sex crimes and Class A felonies that are not drug related, including murder, are not eligible to be sealed under this legislation.
Frequently Asked Questions About New York State’s Clean Slate Act
What records will be sealed under the Clean Slate Act?
With some exceptions, convictions for most misdemeanor and felony convictions will be sealed after a certain amount of time has passed since the individual’s last conviction or release from incarceration. The individual must not be on parole, probation, post-release supervision, or have a pending misdemeanor and/or felony.
With the exception of drug offenses, most Class A felony convictions, including murder and sex offenses, will not be sealed. These convictions are not eligible for Clean Slate sealing.
How much time must pass before convictions are sealed?
For misdemeanor convictions, a person’s dockets are eligible to be sealed three years after sentencing or three years after release from incarceration, whichever is later
For felony convictions, a person’s dockets are eligible to be sealed eight years after sentencing or eight years after release from incarceration, whichever is later.
To have dockets sealed, the person must not be on probation, post release supervision, or parole. The person also must not have any pending criminal cases (i.e., misdemeanors or felonies).
If someone is convicted of another misdemeanor or felony before the original docket is sealed, the waiting period starts over. The waiting period is three years for misdemeanors and eight years for felonies, as explained above.
With the exception of drug offenses, most Class A felony convictions, including murder and sex offenses, will not be sealed. These convictions are not eligible for Clean Slate sealing.
When will my record be sealed?
The Unified Court System has until November 16, 2027, to seal all eligible convictions. Your eligible convictions will be sealed before that date.
How can I tell if my record has been sealed?
Visit the NYS Division of Criminal Justice’s website for information about how to request your criminal history.
If I am in prison now, but my other convictions are older, will those be sealed?
If you are convicted of a crime before a prior conviction is sealed the time calculation resets based on your most recent conviction. As explained above, the time for a misdemeanor is three years and the time for a felony is eight years.
My record should have been sealed. Where is the form that I or my lawyer can complete to require the courts to do a manual review of my records and seal them?
The form will be published on our website no later than November 16, 2027.
Why can’t the form for me to request a manual review of my records to be sealed be available now?
New York State has until November 16, 2027, to implement Clean Slate legislation. Once the system is ready, the form will be made available.
Why is there a three-year implementation period for Clean Slate?
To determine if someone is eligible for record sealing under Clean Slate, the courts need to gather all of the person's convictions from every court in the state and connect each conviction to information about any time they spent in jail, on probation, parole, or under post-release supervision. This requires building new systems, which are still being developed.
The legislature gave the Unified Court System three years from when the law takes effect (until November 16, 2027) to complete these systems based on the complexity of the information that needs to be considered.
Where can I find a copy of the Clean Slate legislation?
View the Clean Slate Act.