Resources: Sealing and Vacating Records

At CHOOSE 180, we are passionate about juvenile justice. We know that young people in our community face systems of injustice that are traumatizing, racist, and rooted in oppression. While we work to break the cycle of youth criminalization, we embrace resources like sealing records to mitigate further harm from a prior conviction.

Unfortunately, having a conviction on your record can significantly affect employment, housing, the right to vote, or educational opportunities. Thankfully, resources are available to help expunge, seal, or vacate conviction records. In this blog, we will share some resources that a couple of our community partners provide.

Before getting into the processes, it’s important to share the distinction between sealing and vacating records:

• Only adult conviction records are vacated. To vacate a record means to set aside the conviction and vacate the judgment and sentence because certain conditions have been met. The necessary conditions must be fulfilled depending on whether the conviction was a felony or misdemeanor.

• Only juvenile conviction records are sealed. To seal a record means to protect it from examination by the public and unauthorized court persons.

Adult Records

Let’s start off with the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle (ULMS)! ULMS offers a Record Expungement service which is valid for King County convictions. Learn more about the ULMS Records Expungement Assistance program to see if you’d be a good fit for the program. 

ULMS partners with Microsoft pro-bono attorneys to begin the record vacating process. Its Advocacy & Civic Engagement department even created a Record Vacating workbook which is designed to help inform formerly incarcerated people of their voting rights. With the upcoming election season, now is a great time to get informed about your rights as a voter.  

Juvenile Records

Legal Counsel for Youth and Children (LCYC) also assists with sealing and vacating records. In juvenile court, records can be automatically sealed after the following criteria is met:

• 18 years old

• The end date of probation and/or completed confinement at Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR)/end date of JR parole

• The hearing should be scheduled at a disposition hearing 

“Youth who can successfully move to seal juvenile records or vacate eligible adult convictions find doors open that have long been closed. Confidence bolsters their job interviews and applications and their rental applications. Obtaining good paying jobs and stable homes instills a sense of self-worth that ripples into the community…A priceless gift in their lives.” - Nicole McGrath, attorney at LCYC.

Interested in taking the next step? Check your eligibility to seal juvenile records and then check out the forms to request sealing and/or vacating records.

If you’re looking for additional resources, we recommend checking out the Washington Court’s Guide to Sealing and Destroying Court Records, Vacating Convictions, and Deleting Criminal History Records. 

We want to give a big thank you to the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and the Legal Counsel for Youth and Children for the fantastic work that they do. Check them out and share their resources with your community!