LegalEase: Vacating/expunging criminal convictions
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, November 12, 2025
By Harry Gasnick
Getting caught and convicted of committing a crime stinks. There’s the jail sentence, fines and probation imposed by the court. There are also the embarrassment and barriers to resumption of your usual life before you had “a record.”
Having a criminal history generally makes it more difficult to obtain employment and absolutely disqualifies a person from employment in certain professions.
It may also make one ineligible for a variety of forms of public assistance, scholarships, or public housing.
Fortunately, in Washington State, the scarlet letter of conviction is not written with permanent ink. It is possible for a person to get their criminal history cleared. The process is usually called “vacating” or “expunging” a conviction, In Washington, the process applies to the vast majority of criminal convictions and in the broadest terms involves having taken care of your obligations under the sentence for the conviction that you’re trying to vacate and having stayed out of trouble for a specified amount of time.
The amount of time as well as a few generally minor conditions varies depending upon the nature of the underlying conviction.
For example, a person who was convicted of misdemeanor shoplifting could get that conviction removed from their record after taking care of their obligations under their sentence and remaining crime free for a total of three years. There is also requirement that the person not be the restricted party of a no-contact order. Felony offenses also involve getting something called a “certificate of discharge” which basically is a separate piece of paper confirming you jumped through most the hoops imposed upon you in your sentence.
Technically what happens is upon making the appropriate showing to the judge, the judge un-convicts you and dismisses the case. The net result is that the (former) defendant can now honestly and legally represent to prospective employers that they do not have that particular conviction on their criminal history. Likewise, as applied to any applications for various public assistance benefits.
Be aware that other countries may not necessarily honor the vacating of a conviction. Before any international travel, you should check with an immigration attorney in the country to be visited to confirm you are approved for travel there.
Also, if your conviction also cost you the right to possess firearms (this is true of all felony offenses and some misdemeanors), vacating the conviction does not restore that particular right.
There is an entirely separate process for going through the restoration of firearms rights that may be addressed in a subsequent article.
Your friendly neighborhood Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers regularly provide services to qualified people in our community who wish to have their criminal histories cleared up.
If you want to try to do this on your own (“pro se”), the basic forms for getting this accomplished along with instructions on how to complete them and the legal procedures for getting them before a judge are available at https://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/?fa= forms.contribute&form ID=38.
There are special rules for convictions regarding simple possession of drug charges.
Convictions before February 2021 for such charges were determined to be void by the State Supreme Court in its decision in the Blake case.
The court found criminalizing drug possession to be unconstitutional.
The upshot is that persons with such convictions can have them removed from their record and receive refunds for monies they paid out of pocket directly due to those convictions.
Clallam Public Defender has assisted in getting in excess of 900 such cases/charges vacated, and an estimated $300,000 plus refunded.
Relief under the Blake decision does not apply to charges that involve delivery or attempted delivery of drugs.
If you believe you may be entitled to Blake relief on a Clallam County conviction, contact Clallam Public Defenders at 360-452-3307.
There is no charge for that service.
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Harry Gasnick is director of Clallam Public Defenders and volunteers for Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers.
