§3607 — Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure | U.S. Code

Summary

If a person is found guilty of a federal simple drug possession offense, and that person had no earlier drug convictions and has not already gotten this special court treatment, the court must, if the person asks and was less than twenty-one years old at the time of the offense, order that public records about the arrest, the charges, and the results be erased. The order restores the person, in the eyes of the law, to the status they had before the arrest. The Justice Department will keep a private record only so courts can check later if someone still qualifies. The erased record or the special court outcome will not count as a conviction for legal penalties or disqualifications. A person who gets the order may lawfully refuse to mention the arrest later and will not be guilty of lying for failing to do so.

Title 18, §3607

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)If a person found guilty of an offense described in section 404 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 844)—

(1)has not, prior to the commission of such offense, been convicted of violating a Federal or State law relating to controlled substances; and

(2)has not previously been the subject of a disposition under this subsection;

(b)A nonpublic record of a disposition under subsection (a), or a conviction that is the subject of an expungement order under subsection (c), shall be retained by the Department of Justice solely for the purpose of use by the courts in determining in any subsequent proceeding whether a person qualifies for the disposition provided in subsection (a) or the expungement provided in subsection (c). A disposition under subsection (a), or a conviction that is the subject of an expungement order under subsection (c), shall not be considered a conviction for the purpose of a disqualification or a disability imposed by law upon conviction of a crime, or for any other purpose.

(c)If the case against a person found guilty of an offense under section 404 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 844) is the subject of a disposition under subsection (a), and the person was less than twenty-one years old at the time of the offense, the court shall enter an expungement order upon the application of such person. The expungement order shall direct that there be expunged from all official records, except the nonpublic records referred to in subsection (b), all references to his arrest for the offense, the institution of criminal proceedings against him, and the results thereof. The effect of the order shall be to restore such person, in the contemplation of the law, to the status he occupied before such arrest or institution of criminal proceedings. A person concerning whom such an order has been entered shall not be held thereafter under any provision of law to be guilty of perjury, false swearing, or making a false statement by reason of his failure to recite or acknowledge such arrests or institution of criminal proceedings, or the results thereof, in response to an inquiry made of him for any purpose.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Nov. 1, 1987, and applicable only to offenses committed after the taking effect of this section, see section 235(a)(1) of Pub. L. 98–473, set out as a note under section 3551 of this title.

§3607 Special Probation and Expungement Procedures for Drug Possessors

Summary

Title 18, §3607

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata