How we research our guides

Each state has its own rules for clearing a criminal record. This page explains where our information comes from and how the tools work.

Sources

Each state page is built from official sources only: the state's statutes on the legislature's own website, the state courts and their self-help pages and official forms, the state's criminal history repository (usually the state police or a state bureau), the pardon or parole board, and legal aid organizations in the LawHelp.org network. National facts (background check rules under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the FBI record request, federal records and pardons, the federal marijuana pardons, EEOC guidance) come from the U.S. Code, the CFPB and FTC, the EEOC, the FBI and the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney. Each page lists its sources and the date it was checked.

How we check

• Every state file is researched and then checked by a second, independent reviewer against the official text, with special care for waiting periods, what each waiting period runs from, exclusions, fees, automatic-relief dates, forms and links.
• A state page is published only after that check. Until then, the state appears on our map and in our tables as “not covered yet,” with a link to its court self-help page and LawHelp.org.
• Where something could not be confirmed, we leave it out instead of guessing. We copy waiting periods and fees exactly as the source states them and never round them.

The waiting-period helper

The helper uses only the waiting periods in our state data. You pick a remedy and a kind of case from that state's list and enter the date the waiting period runs from (the field's label says which date). It adds the number of years (or months) in the law to that date; if the date does not exist in the result year (February 29), it moves to March 1. The result is labelled as the earliest date by the waiting period only, because other rules — exclusions, new offenses, unpaid fines, lifetime limits — can make a person ineligible, and the court decides. Where the law's waiting period is not a fixed number of years, the helper shows the rule and no date. We make no other calculations and never say whether someone qualifies.

The letter and the checklist

The letter fills a standard request for a copy of your own criminal history record with what you type. It is made on your device in English, because it goes to a US state office; on Spanish pages a Spanish explanation is shown beside it. The checklist lists papers people usually gather before filing, with your state's forms, fees and help from our data. When you download, copy or print either one, we save only your name, phone or email, state and the document type — never record details — as our privacy policy explains.

What we never do

We never say that a person qualifies or that a record will be cleared, never suggest hiding a record where the law requires it to be disclosed, and never judge anyone for having a record. A legal aid office or a lawyer can look at your whole record.

Report an error

Email us at hello@robinclaim.com with a link to the official source and we'll check it.