When someone is convicted of a crime, the record of that crime goes on their public record. This can be a very difficult situation for many people who are trying to get past mistakes that they've made in the past. Past crime records can make it difficult for someone who has served their crime to get a job, find an apartment, get accepted to school, and many other activities people use to move ahead in life.

Expungement is the method by which people are able to have evidence of their past crimes removed from the state or federal record. While this process seems like it would help people move forward with their lives, expungement doesn't always keep people's past crimes from the public eye.

How Does Expungement Help?

Expungement makes it so that, at least from a legal perspective, the crime never happened. Nearly all expungement proceedings take place in state courts, with expungements from federal courts rarely if ever happening.

Once your record is expunged, it may make it easier for you to move forward in your life, getting the jobs that you want and obtaining the financial resources that you need.

Evidence of Your Crime May Still Exist Online

While your record may be expunged from the court's record, evidence of your crime may still exist online in other spaces. A quick Google search of your name could reveal your entire criminal past.

There are so many online background search services that do a sweep of public court records. They then repost this information on their own sites. It's unlikely that they'll follow up to see if your case has been expunged.

This means that anyone, be it a future employer or a date, can search your name and find evidence of your past indiscretions. This means that you could still be feeling the effects of your crime even though the record of it has been officially erased.

What Can You Do to Eliminate Online Evidence of Your Crime?

If your conviction has been expunged, it's important that you take the time to do a thorough search online and find out exactly where the outdated information still lives. That old information could live on private websites, news sites, and a host of other locations.

Contact those private websites and request that they remove the outdated information about your conviction. Provide them with official evidence from the court that your conviction has been expunged, removed, or sealed.

Some sites may be able to handle your request right away, while others may take a while to do it. Stay on top of them. Keep in mind that some sites like news sites may not legally have to take the information down.

The key thing to remember is that human beings work at these sites. Be polite and explain your situation. Kindness goes much further towards getting the results you want than anger and rudeness.

Reach Out for Legal Help Managing Old Convictions

Having old, expunged records online can make it difficult for you to move ahead with your life. LLF's Criminal Law Team have worked with their clients for years, helping them manage every aspect of their present and past legal issues.

Reach out to the LLF Law Firm for help at 888-535-3686 today to schedule an evaluation of your case. Your future may depend on it.