Massachusetts: Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Massachusetts calls the general conviction remedy sealing. The Commissioner
of Probation seals the central file and then promptly tells the court clerk and
probation officer to seal their files for the same proceeding. Section 100A
does not describe permanent destruction.

For most authorized inquiries outside law enforcement, courts, and appointing
authorities, the commissioner reports that no record exists. The person may
answer "no record" on employment, housing, and occupational or professional
licensing applications.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

Current law is mandatory on request, not automatic. The person submits the
commissioner's form under penalty of perjury. If all five conditions and the
offense restrictions are satisfied, § 100A says the commissioner "shall
comply" with the request.

S.1114 would change that architecture, but it is not current law. The bill
would require the commissioner to seal most eligible records automatically
within thirty days after eligibility, with implementation eighteen months
after enactment.

Convictions eligible by petition

Section 100A applies to all Massachusetts court appearances and dispositions
unless an offense falls within an express exclusion. An offense that has been
decriminalized becomes eligible immediately unless its elements remain a crime
under a different name. A felony later reclassified as a misdemeanor is
treated as a misdemeanor for sealing.

Excluded offenses and statuses

The general statute excludes convictions under the listed firearm provisions
of chapter 140 and convictions under chapters 268 and 268A, which cover public-
justice and public-official offenses, except resisting arrest.

Sex offenses follow a separate restriction. The minimum is fifteen years after
disposition, including the end of supervision, probation, or incarceration,
and the registration duty must also have ended. A person ever classified as a
level 2 or level 3 sex offender cannot seal the sex offense.

Waiting period and when it starts

The ordinary period is three years for a misdemeanor and seven years for a
felony. Section 100A counts the court appearance and disposition record,
including any period of incarceration or custody. A new Massachusetts guilty
finding or disqualifying imprisonment during the applicable lookback prevents
eligibility, subject to the narrow low-fine motor-vehicle exception.

Protection-order violations under chapter 209A, § 7 and chapter 258E, § 9 are
treated as felonies for the sealing clock. A later nonconviction disposition
such as not guilty, nolle prosequi, no bill, or specified dismissal does not
interrupt the period.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

Section 100A does not state a separate restitution, fine, or fee payment
requirement. Its gates are the completed time period, lack of a new
Massachusetts guilty finding, lack of disqualifying imprisonment, and the
sworn statement concerning convictions and imprisonment in other states,
federal court, or United States possessions.

Petition process and decision standard

The applicant uses the form furnished by the Commissioner of Probation and
signs under penalty of perjury. This is not a discretionary best-interests
hearing. When the listed conditions are met and no excluded conviction appears
in the record, the commissioner must seal the file and notify the court clerk
and probation officer to seal their corresponding records.

Who can still see or use the record

Sealing removes the record from ordinary authorized responses, but criminal-
justice agencies may obtain all CORI, including sealed records, for their
duties. Firearms licensing authorities and the criminal record review board
also retain the access stated in chapter 6, § 172(a)(1).

Section 100A preserves use in sentencing for a later criminal case. It also
allows a party in specified family, custody, visitation, and abuse proceedings
to seek use of a potentially relevant sealed record. The judge first reviews
it privately, then uses a closed admissibility hearing; any admitted record is
impounded and limited to people with a demonstrated need.

What trips people up

Mandatory does not mean automatic. Current law requires the person's sworn
request. S.1114 proposes automation but remains pending.

The clock includes custody. A conviction date alone may be too early when
incarceration or custody ended later.

A sealed record is still available to criminal justice. Ordinary employers
and housing or licensing screeners receive the no-record rule, while the
statute preserves specified government and later-case access.

Common questions

Does the person have to go before a judge? Section 100A uses an
administrative request to the Commissioner of Probation. It does not require a
discretionary court hearing for ordinary conviction sealing.

Can the person answer "no record" after sealing? Yes, for the employment,
housing, and occupational or professional licensing inquiries described in
§ 100A.

Can law enforcement still see the record? Yes. Chapter 6, § 172(a)(1)
allows criminal-justice agencies to obtain sealed CORI for their criminal-
justice duties.

Statutes and sources

• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 100A — request, eligibility clocks, new-record
  conditions, exclusions, sex-offense rule, file sealing, no-record response,
  application answers, and retained court uses.
  https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleII/Chapter276/Section100A
  (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6, § 172(a)(1) — criminal-justice, firearms-licensing,
  and review-board access to sealed CORI.
  https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleII/Chapter6/Section172
  (accessed 2026-07-19)

Pending legislation

S.1114 remains in Senate Ways and Means. It would require automatic sealing of
most eligible records within thirty days after eligibility, while keeping a
request requirement for sex-offense records. Its proposed effective date is
eighteen months after passage, so it does not change today's request-based
answer.