2025 Summary of North Carolina Expunctions

Please use this summary of North Carolina expunctions as an initial guide to understanding the criteria and filing requirements of the various expunctions in North Carolina. This summary is intended to provide accurate, general information. However, this summary does not fully address the provisions of each expunction statute. In addition, laws and legal procedures are subject to frequent change and differing interpretations, and the North Carolina Justice Center cannot ensure the information in this summary is current, particularly beyond 2025.

Everyone deserves access to meaningful employment, affordable housing, and education. Criminal record expunction is a lifeline for nearly two million North Carolinians, mostly people of color, that have been denied access to these essentials because of their criminal backgrounds.

In North Carolina, an expunction is the destruction of a criminal record. An expunction (also called an “expungement”) of a criminal record restores the individual, in the view of the law, to the status he or she occupied before the criminal record existed. With a few exceptions, when an individual is granted an expunction, he or she may without committing perjury or false statement deny or refuse to acknowledge that the criminal incident occurred. An exception to this is for purposes of federal immigration. Please see North Carolina General Statutes § 15A-151 for other exceptions.

For more than a decade, criminal record expunction laws have steadily expanded to provide relief to more people. Most recently, expunction law has changed to allow certain people to become eligible for expunction sooner. The law, which passed this year, amends N.C. Gen. Statute 15A-145.5 to reduce the waiting period to expunge one “non-violent” misdemeanor from 5 years to 3 years.

This change is a step forward. It aligns North Carolina’s misdemeanor waiting period with research showing that after three to four years without a new conviction, people with misdemeanor convictions are not more likely to commit an offense when compared to people without convictions. It also brings North Carolina more in line with national trends: at least 19 states allow expunction or sealing of misdemeanor convictions after three years or less, including Mississippi, which has no waiting period for sealing a first-time nonviolent misdemeanor.

Reducing the waiting period for one misdemeanor conviction may allow approximately 30 thousand North Carolinians seeking second chances to access relief sooner – opening doors to meaningful employment, safe housing, education, and stability earlier.

We believe a better North Carolina is possible, where everyone has a fair chance. We encourage lawmakers to continue the work to streamline, expand, automate, and improve North Carolina record relief laws to remove barriers to opportunity, improve public safety, and strengthen the economy. 

For assistance in understanding the statutory barriers to opportunities that may arise because of a criminal record, please use the UNC School of Government’s Collateral Consequences Assessment Tool.