Top Law Schools

Hello all,

Unfortunately, due to past (hopefully minor) C&F issues, I need to find out about my past activity. Since one of the incidents occurred before I was 18, I believe it was expunged. Does that mean that a DOJ report will not include this information, and that I also need to pay the extra cash for an FBI report? Thanks for your help

t-14orbust wrote:Hello all,

Unfortunately, due to past (hopefully minor) C&F issues, I need to find out about my past activity. Since one of the incidents occurred before I was 18, I believe it was expunged. Does that mean that a DOJ report will not include this information, and that I also need to pay the extra cash for an FBI report? Thanks for your help

Lol. You need to find out about your past activities? Did you go on blacked-out crime sprees after popping bars?

What you mean is: I want to find out what my background check will reveal because I intend on lying to my bar's C&F committee. So yeah, not gonna help you there.

BeenDidThat wrote:

t-14orbust wrote:Hello all,

Unfortunately, due to past (hopefully minor) C&F issues, I need to find out about my past activity. Since one of the incidents occurred before I was 18, I believe it was expunged. Does that mean that a DOJ report will not include this information, and that I also need to pay the extra cash for an FBI report? Thanks for your help

Lol. You need to find out about your past activities? Did you go on blacked-out crime sprees after popping bars?

What you mean is: I want to find out what my background check will reveal because I intend on lying to my bar's C&F committee. So yeah, not gonna help you there.

More like I do not have specific information regarding the incident such as the Date, what court proceedings there were (if any, I don't remember standing before a Judge, or receiving formal charges, and definitely not a conviction). I read about using these services to gather the most accurate data about past encounters with the law, so that the C&F addendum can be as accurate as possible. But thanks for being a dick.

t-14orbust wrote:

BeenDidThat wrote:

t-14orbust wrote:Hello all,

Unfortunately, due to past (hopefully minor) C&F issues, I need to find out about my past activity. Since one of the incidents occurred before I was 18, I believe it was expunged. Does that mean that a DOJ report will not include this information, and that I also need to pay the extra cash for an FBI report? Thanks for your help

Lol. You need to find out about your past activities? Did you go on blacked-out crime sprees after popping bars?

What you mean is: I want to find out what my background check will reveal because I intend on lying to my bar's C&F committee. So yeah, not gonna help you there.

More like I do not have specific information regarding the incident such as the Date, what court proceedings there were (if any, I don't remember standing before a Judge, or receiving formal charges, and definitely not a conviction). I read about using these services to gather the most accurate data about past encounters with the law, so that the C&F addendum can be as accurate as possible. But thanks for being a dick.

Apologies, I expect people to use words fairly precisely, and "find out about my pact activity" does not cover the situation you're describing. Dick.

But, because I'm a nice guy, I'll try to help:
- contact the county clerk of the county you were charged in
- if they have the records, great
- if they don't, ask if they know if the FBI or DOJ would have this info
- if they don't know, i would suggest not throwing down more $ for the FBI report, but instead giving a general explanation of what you remember of the charges, the general time period, the county, etc., what you've done to try to track down all the information, and let them know if there's anything else you can do to help them in the process. Unless it's a serious crime or very recent, all they really care about is that you aren't a concealer of bad character evidence. They can always pull the reports if they want more specifics because they are concerned about the content of the crime charged.

BeenDidThat wrote:

t-14orbust wrote:

BeenDidThat wrote:

t-14orbust wrote:Hello all,

Unfortunately, due to past (hopefully minor) C&F issues, I need to find out about my past activity. Since one of the incidents occurred before I was 18, I believe it was expunged. Does that mean that a DOJ report will not include this information, and that I also need to pay the extra cash for an FBI report? Thanks for your help

Lol. You need to find out about your past activities? Did you go on blacked-out crime sprees after popping bars?

What you mean is: I want to find out what my background check will reveal because I intend on lying to my bar's C&F committee. So yeah, not gonna help you there.

More like I do not have specific information regarding the incident such as the Date, what court proceedings there were (if any, I don't remember standing before a Judge, or receiving formal charges, and definitely not a conviction). I read about using these services to gather the most accurate data about past encounters with the law, so that the C&F addendum can be as accurate as possible. But thanks for being a dick.

Apologies, I expect people to use words fairly precisely, and "find out about my pact activity" does not cover the situation you're describing. Dick.

But, because I'm a nice guy, I'll try to help:
- contact the county clerk of the county you were charged in
- if they have the records, great
- if they don't, ask if they know if the FBI or DOJ would have this info
- if they don't know, i would suggest not throwing down more $ for the FBI report, but instead giving a general explanation of what you remember of the charges, the general time period, the county, etc., what you've done to try to track down all the information, and let them know if there's anything else you can do to help them in the process. Unless it's a serious crime or very recent, all they really care about is that you aren't a concealer of bad character evidence. They can always pull the reports if they want more specifics because they are concerned about the content of the crime charged.

Thank you. I can see how the phrasing of the original post may have been misleading. It seems that you may think this is in regards to Bar C&F, though I'm not sure. It is actually for my upcoming LS Admissions Apps. So far from what I've read on TLS and Asha's blog, it's best to actually run a background check so that the most detailed information can be gathered. I will attempt to contact the county clerk but I think they won't have the specific information I need because I am not sure if I was even formally charged(not sure if they have arrest records). Also, since it was so long ago, I can't really pinpoint the details too well on my own. I do plan on running a background check anyways, because I want to be as transparent and precise as possible. The main thing I'm wondering is whether or not the DOJ will supply me with any information or documents that have been expunged. As of now I'm leaning towards shelling over the extra 20$ for the FBI report just to be safe; however, if someone is sure that the DOJ report will have all the pertinent information, then I'll forgo that option. Thanks for your help and sorry for the mis-communication.

Is the FBI report only $20? If so, then it seems worth it to me to get the FBI report, if only to be sure. Unless you're completely impoverished, it's worth the $20.

RoaringMice wrote:Is the FBI report only $20? If so, then it seems worth it to me to get the FBI report, if only to be sure. Unless you're completely impoverished, it's worth the $20.

I believe it is only 20$ more, also in order to get the FBI report you also have to file for the DOJ report. So if I were to forgo it this time, and needed it in the future, I would have to pay for the DOJ one again anyways. So it is likely I will just try to cover all my bases and go for the whole $78~ shabang

t-14orbust wrote:
Thank you. I can see how the phrasing of the original post may have been misleading. It seems that you may think this is in regards to Bar C&F, though I'm not sure. It is actually for my upcoming LS Admissions Apps. So far from what I've read on TLS and Asha's blog, it's best to actually run a background check so that the most detailed information can be gathered. I will attempt to contact the county clerk but I think they won't have the specific information I need because I am not sure if I was even formally charged(not sure if they have arrest records). Also, since it was so long ago, I can't really pinpoint the details too well on my own. I do plan on running a background check anyways, because I want to be as transparent and precise as possible. The main thing I'm wondering is whether or not the DOJ will supply me with any information or documents that have been expunged. As of now I'm leaning towards shelling over the extra 20$ for the FBI report just to be safe; however, if someone is sure that the DOJ report will have all the pertinent information, then I'll forgo that option. Thanks for your help and sorry for the mis-communication.

You could check your state's expunction statute. It may be (depending on your jdx, speaking from experience in one jurisdiction here), that an order of expunction is sent to public agencies (including DOJ/FBI databases), requesting destruction of such records. Now, could be that DOJ would just ignore those, but if your state does this and DOJ complies with such an order, it may well be that they don't have a record of it at all. I know in my jurisdiction, the orders are sent to the FBI database requesting destruction of such info. I'm no expert on the federalism issues involved in whether or not the FBI actually complies or not, so I can't provide a lot of certainty, but I suspect that if your arrest was expunged and expunction works where I am like it does where you are, the FBI won't have record of it anymore. Just some info that may help.

BeenDidThat wrote:

t-14orbust wrote:
Thank you. I can see how the phrasing of the original post may have been misleading. It seems that you may think this is in regards to Bar C&F, though I'm not sure. It is actually for my upcoming LS Admissions Apps. So far from what I've read on TLS and Asha's blog, it's best to actually run a background check so that the most detailed information can be gathered. I will attempt to contact the county clerk but I think they won't have the specific information I need because I am not sure if I was even formally charged(not sure if they have arrest records). Also, since it was so long ago, I can't really pinpoint the details too well on my own. I do plan on running a background check anyways, because I want to be as transparent and precise as possible. The main thing I'm wondering is whether or not the DOJ will supply me with any information or documents that have been expunged. As of now I'm leaning towards shelling over the extra 20$ for the FBI report just to be safe; however, if someone is sure that the DOJ report will have all the pertinent information, then I'll forgo that option. Thanks for your help and sorry for the mis-communication.

You could check your state's expunction statute. It may be (depending on your jdx, speaking from experience in one jurisdiction here), that an order of expunction is sent to public agencies (including DOJ/FBI databases), requesting destruction of such records. Now, could be that DOJ would just ignore those, but if your state does this and DOJ complies with such an order, it may well be that they don't have a record of it at all. I know in my jurisdiction, the orders are sent to the FBI database requesting destruction of such info. I'm no expert on the federalism issues involved in whether or not the FBI actually complies or not, so I can't provide a lot of certainty, but I suspect that if your arrest was expunged and expunction works where I am like it does where you are, the FBI won't have record of it anymore. Just some info that may help.

Appreciate it, I'll post back here when I find out if that is the case. I did read on my state's DOJ site that "Section 1203.4 does not obilterate the fact that a defendant has been "finally adjuged guilty of a crime." It merely frees the convicted felon from certain "penalties and disabilities" of a criminal or like nature." But I think that may only apply to convictions(or felony convictions), and I was neither convicted(of anything) nor charged for a felony.

You would probably know if you were formally charged. Now I'm curious to what you think you blacked out and did, but no need to air your dirty felonies in public.

I've never actually heard of anyone actually getting their DOJ/FBI reports, but I'm new here. Good luck.

Happy Gilmore wrote:You would probably know if you were formally charged. Now I'm curious to what you think you blacked out and did, but no need to air your dirty felonies in public.

I've never actually heard of anyone actually getting their DOJ/FBI reports, but I'm new here. Good luck.

lol. it wasn't a felony, and believe me, it's not as interesting as the mystery makes it out to be. It's just that it was around 6 or 7 years ago and I don't really know exactly what went down since I never saw a judge or anything. I'm not sure how juvenile proceedings work. I did do a crime education type class though.

t-14orbust wrote:

Happy Gilmore wrote:You would probably know if you were formally charged. Now I'm curious to what you think you blacked out and did, but no need to air your dirty felonies in public.

I've never actually heard of anyone actually getting their DOJ/FBI reports, but I'm new here. Good luck.

lol. it wasn't a felony, and believe me, it's not as interesting as the mystery makes it out to be. It's just that it was around 6 or 7 years ago and I don't really know exactly what went down since I never saw a judge or anything. I'm not sure how juvenile proceedings work. I did do a crime education type class though.

Sounds like you may have gone through a juvenile diversionary program. The records should be available from the clerk of the court in the county in which the arrest occurred. In my county, you just fill out a form and write down the years you want them to check and pay a buck or two for each year. Even if juvenile offenses are sealed from everyone else's view, they may show up when you do the check on yourself. FBI check wouldn't be a bad idea, so you may wanna get your fingerprints taken while you're at it.

Metanoia wrote:

t-14orbust wrote:

Happy Gilmore wrote:You would probably know if you were formally charged. Now I'm curious to what you think you blacked out and did, but no need to air your dirty felonies in public.

I've never actually heard of anyone actually getting their DOJ/FBI reports, but I'm new here. Good luck.

lol. it wasn't a felony, and believe me, it's not as interesting as the mystery makes it out to be. It's just that it was around 6 or 7 years ago and I don't really know exactly what went down since I never saw a judge or anything. I'm not sure how juvenile proceedings work. I did do a crime education type class though.

Sounds like you may have gone through a juvenile diversionary program. The records should be available from the clerk of the court in the county in which the arrest occurred. In my county, you just fill out a form and write down the years you want them to check and pay a buck or two for each year. Even if juvenile offenses are sealed from everyone else's view, they may show up when you do the check on yourself. FBI check wouldn't be a bad idea, so you may wanna get your fingerprints taken while you're at it.

Thanks for that, I'll give them a call. I did the live scan fingerprinting yesterday actually, so we'll see what it turns up.

Your FBI rap sheet will not include any juvenile offenses or arrests without convictions. The reason for this is because these records are sealed or expunged. Some employers require you do an FBI background check before they hire you...some licensing agencies use the FBI check too. The FBI would be violating state law if this was disclosed on a check (and could be sued), which is one reason why this will not show up. Another is that they have better things to be doing (unlike some campus resource officers) than recording that you threw chalk at your teacher when you were in middle school.