Some Benefits of Getting A Louisiana Arrest or Criminal Conviction Expunged

   Since a significant portion of the Louisiana public has a record of an arrest or conviction, even if only a misdemeanor, expungements are widely applicable to the general population. An expungement is basically a legal mechanism under Louisiana criminal law for concealing a person's criminal record. Obviously, if you plead guilty to a crime, or you are found guilty in a court of law, you have a record of conviction. However, if you are merely arrested and not even later found guilty or plead guilty, you still have a record of arrest. Even if you are later found not guilty at trial, or the charge gets dismissed by the District Attorney, you will still have a record of arrest that can be easily accessed and possibly misconstrued by people who don't know the full details of your case. Saying all of this brings me to why you should get an expungement. In Louisiana, some benefits of an expungement are the following:  

1.  Remove your record of arrest or conviction, related photographs, fingerprints, disposition, or any other related information of any kind from public access. This process helps you move on from the stain of your criminal past. 
   
2. Make your record of arrest or conviction “confidential” and no longer considered to be a public record.
   
3. Prevent “background check” companies from accessing—or reporting—your criminal history. While “background check” companies perform an important role in our society, background checks can sometimes cause as much harm as they do good. These checks and their results can be used to summarily deny you access to loans, jobs, an apartment, etc. Some people don’t care about the full facts and details of your past and won’t even bother to consider what you have to say about past mistakes and transgressions. They may not even care if you’ve taken proactive measures to rehabilitate yourself and learn from those mistakes and transgressions. An expungement can help you avoid having to explain past issues. 
   
4. Prevent most (but not all) prospective employers from obtaining your criminal history from state databases. Employers sometimes refuse to even consider a job application or promotion if they know you have a record of arrest and/or conviction. You could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table by not obtaining an expungement. You might not even be told why your job application was rejected when a prospective employer sees your criminal record and takes it into account when rejecting your application for a new job or promotion. 
   
5.  Prevent law enforcement officers from seeing your criminal history, except under special circumstances. This aspect of an expungement can be useful in minimizing the likelihood of you becoming a target of law enforcement harassment simply because of past mistakes that you made. For instance, it’s extremely disconcerting for you to be on the side of the street because you have been pulled over for a speeding ticket, have an officer run your background, see a past record of arrest or conviction, and then become aggressive with you and assume that you must be up to no good in the present moment when you are not. Not all officers act this way, but some do. 
   

   If you have a record of arrest or record of conviction, you may be eligible to get that record cleared through the expungement process. An expungement is usually well worth the money and effort to accomplish. An expungement can give you peace of mind, protect your privacy, help you move on from the past, open new job opportunities, etc.  Reach out and hire a competent criminal defense attorney to properly handle an expungement on your behalf.