Criminal history expungement changes in Oregon for 2022!

EXPUNGING/SETTING ASIDE CRIMINAL ARRESTS, DISMISSALS AND CONVICTIONS AS OF JANUARY 1, 2022

ELIGIBILITY

1. CONVICTIONS

2. ARRESTS/CHARGES WITHOUT CONVICTION

3. OTHER REQUIREMENTS
   1. If a person’s probation was revoked, the person may not apply for an order setting aside the conviction until after a period of 3 years from the date of revocation.
   2. A filing fee no longer is required to file a motion to set aside/expunge a conviction.
   3. The prosecuting attorney may not charge a fee for performing the requirements in the expungement process.
   4. The person filing the motion must forward to the Department of State Police a full set of the person’s fingerprints on a fingerprint card or in any other matter specified by the Department. The person must pay a fee to the Department of State Police for the purpose of the Department performing a background check.​
      1. The Department shall establish a fee in an amount not to exceed the cost of performing the criminal record check. If the Department is required to perform only one record check for the person, the Department may only charge one fee, regardless of the number of counties in which the person is filing a motion.
      2. The Department shall provide a copy of the results of the criminal record check to the prosecuting attorney.

4. HEARINGS ON OBJECTIONS TO EXPUNGEMENT
   1. ​​​​The prosecuting attorney may object to a motion to expunge a person’s record
   2. However, the prosecuting attorney must notify the court within 120 of the date the motion was filed with the court.
   3. If an objection is received to an expungement motion, the court shall hold a hearing and may require the filing of affidavits and taking of proofs as the court deems proper.
   4. The victim shall be allowed to make a statement
   5. If the person is otherwise eligible for expungement of a conviction, the court shall grant the motion and enter an order granting the motion unless the court makes written findings, by clear and convincing evidence, that the circumstances and behavior of the person, from the date of the conviction the person is seeking to set aside to the date of the hearing on the motion, do not warrant granting the motion due to the circumstances and behavior creating a risk to public safety. When determining whether the person’s circumstances and behavior create a risk to public safety, the court may only consider criminal behavior, or violations of regulatory law or administrative rule enforced by civil penalty or other administrative sanction that relate to the character of the conviction sought to be set aside. The court may not consider non-punitive civil liability, monetary obligations and motor vehicle violations. Upon granting the motion, the court shall enter an appropriate order containing the original arrest or citation charge, the conviction charge, if different from the original, the date of charge, the submitting agency and the disposition of the charge. Upon the entry of the order, the person for purposes of the law shall be deemed not to have been previously convicted, and the court shall issue an order sealing the record of conviction and other official records in the case, including the records of arrest, citation or charge.

5. OFFENSES ELIGIBLE FOR EXPUNGEMENT
   1. A Class B felony, except for a charge including an allegation that the felony involved the use of a firearm or any crime classified as a person felony;
   2. Any misdemeanor, Class C felony or felony punishable as a misdemeanor;
   3. An offense constituting a violation under state law or local ordinance; or
   4. An offense committed before January 1, 1972, that, if committed after that date, would qualify for an order under this section;
   5. A finding of contempt of court.

6. OFFENSES NOT ELIGIBLE FOR EXPUNGEMENT
   1. Criminal mistreatment in the second degree if the victim at the time of the crime was 65 years of age or older;
   2. Criminal mistreatment in the first degree if the victim at the time of the crime was 65 of age or older, or when the offense constitutes child abuse;
   3. Endangering the welfare of a minor when the offense constitutes child abuse
   4. Criminal negligent homicide when that offense was punishable as a Class C felony;
   5. Assault in the third degree when the person, being at least 18 years old, intentionally or knowingly causes physical injury to a child 10 years of age or younger
   6. Any sex crime, unless:
      1. The crime is rape 3, sodomy 3, sexual abuse 3, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor, sexual misconduct, or an attempt to commit one of these offenses; and
         1. The person has been relieved of the obligation to report as a sex offender (under 163A.145 or 163A.150 for age-based convictions); and
         2. The person has not been convicted of, found guilty except insanity of or found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court based on a crime for which the court is prohibited from setting aside the conviction; or
      2. The sex crime constitutes a Class C felony and
         1. The person was under 16 years of age at the time of the offense;
         2. The person is:
            1. Less than 2 years and 180 days older than the victim; or
            2. At least 2 years and 180 days older, but less than 3 years and 180 days older, than the victim and the court finds that setting aside the conviction is in the best interest of justice and of benefit to the person and the community;
         3. The victim’s lack of consent was due solely to incapacity to consent by reason of the person being less than a specified age;
         4. The victim as at least 12 years of age at the time of the offense;
         5. The person has not been convicted of, found guilty except for insanity of or found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court based on a crime for which the court is prohibited from setting aside the conviction under this section; and
         6. Each conviction or finding described in this section involved the same victim.
   7. A conviction for a state or municipal traffic offense
   8. A person who, at the time the time the motion is pending is under charge of commission of any crime.
   9. A person convicted, within the following applicable time period immediately preceding the filing of the motion, of any offense, excluding motor vehicle violations, whether or not the other conviction is for conduct associated with the same criminal episode that caused the conviction that is sought to be set aside. A single violation, other than a motor vehicle violation, within the last 10 years is not a conviction under this subsection. A conviction that has been set aside under this section shall be considered for the purpose of determining whether this section applies.