Illinois: Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Illinois uses sealing for the ordinary adult-conviction remedy. The record is
maintained, but it becomes unavailable without authorized access. Expungement
can destroy or return agency records and remove the person's name from public
indexes, but the statute does not require destruction of the circuit-court file;
that file may remain impounded. See 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(a)(1).

Automatic or clean-slate relief

The automatic program is enacted but staged. Eligible Class 4 prostitution
records must be automatically sealed no later than January 1, 2028. Beginning
January 1, 2028, circuit clerks also seal municipal-ordinance and Class C
misdemeanor records twice yearly after one year from case closure.

Broader automatic sealing under § 5.2(k) begins January 1, 2029 and depends on
appropriations. Illinois State Police identifies and seals eligible records, then
notifies circuit clerks. Historical records are backfilled in groups, with the
oldest court-record deadline extending to 2034. A person should not assume the
broad program has already cleared a record before the statutory rollout begins.

Convictions eligible by petition

Section 5.2(c) permits a petition to seal otherwise eligible convictions with
probation or conditional discharge completed without revocation, other
misdemeanor convictions, and other felony convictions. The exclusions in
§ 5.2(a)(3) still control.

True conviction expungement is narrower. Section 5.2 supplies special routes for
a reversed or vacated conviction, factual innocence or a certificate of
innocence, a pardon or Prisoner Review Board certificate that authorizes relief,
trafficking-victim crimes, specified cannabis convictions, and prostitution
convictions. Several of those subjects sit outside this survey's general route.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The petition route excludes DUI, most reckless-driving records, sexual offenses
against minors, most Article 11 sex offenses, domestic battery and aggravated
domestic battery, specified protection-order and stalking offenses, serious
Humane Care for Animals Act offenses, and offenses requiring sex-offender
registration. The statute contains narrow exceptions, so the exact citation and
disposition matter.

Automatic sealing incorporates those exclusions and adds others, including
homicide, Class X felonies, crimes of violence, trafficking and involuntary
servitude, organized retail crime, robbery, vehicular hijacking, specified
burglary, and residential burglary. A record is also excluded while the person
is serving an Illinois sentence or has a pending filed charge.

Waiting period and when it starts

For a petition, convictions with probation or conditional discharge and other
misdemeanors generally use two years after termination of the person's last
sentence in any jurisdiction. Other felony convictions use three years. An
eligible § 5.2(c)(2)(F) felony record can be petitioned at sentence termination
if the person earned a qualifying diploma, degree, certificate, technical
credential, or GED during the sentence or mandatory supervised release.

The broad automatic program uses two years after the sentence tied to a
misdemeanor record and three years after the sentence tied to a felony record.
The separate municipal-ordinance/Class C program uses one year after the case is
closed.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

A conviction placed on probation or conditional discharge must have been
completed without revocation to fit § 5.2(c)(2)(D). For automatic relief, the
person cannot still be serving an Illinois sentence, supervision, or qualified
probation, and cannot have a pending filed charge.

Ordinary unpaid court costs, assessments, fines, and fees cannot by themselves
justify denying a sealing petition. Court-ordered victim restitution is outside
that protection unless it has been converted to a civil judgment. The statute
also says a sentence terminates despite an outstanding legal financial
obligation, so payment and the waiting-clock start are separate questions.

Petition process and decision standard

File a verified petition with the circuit-court clerk where the arrest occurred
or charge was brought; multiple jurisdictions require multiple petitions. A fee
applies unless waived. The clerk serves the prosecutor, Illinois State Police,
the arresting agency, and municipal counsel when applicable.

An objection must be filed within 60 days after service. If there is an
objection, the court holds an evidence hearing and may consider the strength of
the conviction evidence, the State's reasons for retaining the record, the
person's age and history, elapsed time, and adverse consequences of denial. If
no one objects, the court still enters an order granting or denying the petition;
silence does not make relief automatic.

Who can still see or use the record

For an unauthorized inquiry, the court and agencies respond as though no record
ever existed. But 20 ILCS 2630/13 preserves inspection and use by courts, law
enforcement, and prosecutors. Illinois State Police may use or disseminate
felony records when federal or state law, rules, or regulations require or
authorize it, and the Department of Corrections retains the access the statute
specifies. Sealed and impounded records are exempt from public-record disclosure.

Boundaries and alternative relief

This page does not treat juvenile, nonconviction, marijuana-specific, pardon,
factual-innocence, trafficking-victim, or immigration-error vacatur as the
ordinary conviction-sealing rule. Those routes can produce different effects
and procedures. The key boundary is that most eligible adjudicated convictions
are sealed, not expunged.

What trips people up

The broad automatic program is not fully live in 2026. Public Act 104-459 is
effective, but § 5.2(k)'s general automated sealing starts in 2029 and its
historical backfill continues afterward.

A felony does not always use the same petition clock. A felony conviction
with probation or conditional discharge can fit the two-year category. Other
eligible felonies generally use three years, with the education-based route
available at sentence termination.

Sealing is not destruction. The public-facing result is strong, but the
record remains maintained and available for the statutory criminal-justice and
other authorized uses.

Common questions

Does Illinois limit petition sealing to Class 3 and Class 4 felonies? No.
Current § 5.2(c)(2)(F) covers felony convictions not otherwise included in the
probation/conditional-discharge category unless an exclusion applies. The
offense and automatic-relief exclusions still must be checked.

Do unpaid fines prevent the waiting clock from starting? No. The statute
says sentence termination occurs despite an outstanding legal financial
obligation. It separately protects a sealing petition from denial based on
ordinary legal financial obligations, while treating victim restitution
differently.

Will the 2029 program seal every eligible record immediately? No. New
processing begins in 2029, while older records follow statutory identification
and court-sealing deadlines extending through 2034. Appropriations also matter.

Statutes and sources

• 20 ILCS 2630/5.2(a)–(d) and (j)–(l) — definitions, petition eligibility,
  exclusions, clocks, process, special conviction routes, and staged automatic
  sealing.
  https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/002026300K5.2.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-19)
• 20 ILCS 2630/13 — retention, authorized inspection/use, and FOIA treatment.
  https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/002026300K13.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-19)