Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Oregon

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Oregon calls the remedy a set-aside. Under ORS § 137.225(3) and (4), the court sets aside the conviction and seals the conviction record and other official records in the case. For purposes of Oregon law, the person is deemed not to have been previously convicted, the proceeding is deemed not to have occurred, and the person may answer questions accordingly.

That is a strong legal effect, but it is not destruction. Subsections (10) and (11) preserve court-ordered disclosure for a truth-based civil claim or defense and limited good-cause reopening for a prosecutor or defendant. A reopening order does not undo the set-aside.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

ORS § 137.225(1)(a) says an eligible person applies "by motion" in the court where the conviction was entered. The general conviction route is therefore not automatic. Once a motion is filed, however, subsection (3)(b) requires the court to grant it if the prosecutor does not object and the statutory conditions are met.

A narrow offense-specific exception operates without a motion. 2024 Or. Laws ch. 70, § 54(4), as amended by 2025 Or. Laws ch. 532, requires the court to seal a drug-enforcement-misdemeanor conviction within 60 days after three years from judgment. An outstanding warrant stops the clock and blocks sealing. Multiple drug-enforcement misdemeanors in one case must all be eligible, and other case records must first be set aside or expunged.

Convictions eligible by motion

Subsection (5) covers most misdemeanors, Class C felonies, felonies punishable as misdemeanors under ORS 161.705, violations, and older offenses that would qualify under the modern classification. A Class B felony can qualify only if it is not a person felony under the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission's rules and is not a violation of ORS 166.429.

The eligible-class list must be read with subsections (6) and (7). Being a Class C felony or misdemeanor does not override a specific statutory exclusion.

Excluded offenses and statuses

ORS § 137.225(6) excludes listed elder-victim criminal mistreatment, specified child-abuse forms of criminal mistreatment and endangering a minor, qualifying criminally negligent homicide, a specified third-degree assault, and sex crimes unless one of the statute's narrow exceptions is satisfied. Class A felonies are outside subsection (5), while person Class B felonies and ORS 166.429 are expressly excluded there.

Subsection (7) separately excludes state and municipal traffic convictions and bars a motion when a disqualifying recent conviction or specified contempt finding falls inside the applicable lookback. A pending criminal charge—or a pending contempt charge for violating an abuse-related or person-crime order—also blocks the motion.

Waiting period and when it starts

The general clock runs from the later of conviction or release from imprisonment:

• seven years for a Class B felony;
• five years for a Class C felony;
• three years for a Class A misdemeanor; and
• one year for a Class B or C misdemeanor or a violation.

The five-year branch also applies to contempt for violating an order related to abuse or a person crime; other contempt findings use the one-year branch. If probation was revoked, subsection (1)(e) requires the later of three years after revocation or the ordinary class-based eligibility date. A court-reduced classification uses the reduced class's period, still measured from conviction or release from imprisonment.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The person must have fully complied with and performed the sentence. Someone still under supervision has not done so. The statute does not state a separate restitution test in this section; at an objection hearing, it expressly forbids the court from using monetary obligations as part of the public-safety inquiry.

The recent-record rule is independent of sentence completion. During the class-based lookback, another offense generally disqualifies the motion, though motor vehicle violations and the statute's named drug-enforcement-misdemeanor exception do not count. One nonmotor-vehicle violation is also disregarded, but a conviction previously set aside under this section still counts for this lookback.

Motion process and decision standard

The motion goes to the court where the conviction was entered. The filer serves the prosecuting attorney, sends fingerprints to the Department of State Police, and pays the department's actual-cost criminal-record-check fee. ORS § 137.225(1)(g) eliminates the ordinary court filing fee, and the prosecutor may not charge a separate processing fee.

The prosecutor has 120 days from filing to object and must notify the victim of the motion and hearing date. If there is an objection, the court holds a hearing and lets the victim speak. The court must grant relief unless it makes written findings, by clear and convincing evidence, that post-conviction circumstances and behavior create a public-safety risk. The permitted inquiry is limited to criminal behavior and related regulatory or administrative violations; it may not use nonpunitive civil liability, monetary obligations, or motor vehicle violations.

Who can still see or use the record

The order seals the official case records, and the clerk sends certified copies to the agencies directed by the court and to the Department of Corrections for a conviction. The statute nevertheless preserves targeted access. In a civil case where truth matters to a claim or defense, ORS § 137.225(10) allows a party to seek disclosure in the interest of justice. A prosecutor or defendant may also seek limited reopening for an investigation on an affidavit showing good cause.

What trips people up

The waiting clock is not sentence completion. Oregon separately requires full sentence performance, but the numbered clock runs from the later of the conviction date or release from imprisonment. Treating the end of probation as the universal start date can produce the wrong filing date.

Eligibility is a three-step check. First identify the class under subsection (5), then check the named offense exclusions in subsection (6), and finally apply the recent-record, traffic, and pending-charge rules in subsection (7).

No objection does not make the route automatic. The person still files a motion, serves the prosecutor, and completes the fingerprint and record-check steps. No objection changes the decision path, not the need to apply. The separate drug-enforcement-misdemeanor sealing rule is the narrow automatic exception.

Common questions

Can a set-aside conviction be denied on a job or housing application? ORS § 137.225(4) says the person may answer questions as though the conviction did not occur. That does not guarantee removal from every federal or private database or answer a separate disclosure rule outside this statute.

Does an old set-aside conviction count in the recent-record check? Yes. Subsection (7)(b) expressly says a conviction set aside under this section is still considered when applying the lookback rule.

Can the sealed file ever be reopened? Yes, in the limited circumstances in subsections (10) and (11). Reopening for an investigation does not itself undo the set-aside order.

Statutes and sources

• Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.225(1), (5) — motion requirement, sentence completion, eligible classes, waiting periods, revoked probation, and reduced classifications. https://web.archive.org/web/20251117161024id_/https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2492/A-Engrossed (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.225(6)–(8) — offense exclusions, traffic rule, recent-record lookback, pending charges, and nonconviction boundaries. https://web.archive.org/web/20251117161024id_/https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2492/A-Engrossed (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.225(1)(g), (2), (3) — fees, service, fingerprints, objection period, victim notice, hearing, and public-safety standard. https://web.archive.org/web/20251117161024id_/https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2492/A-Engrossed (accessed 2026-07-19)
• Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.225(3), (4), (10)–(12) — set-aside effect, sealing, disclosure exceptions, limited reopening, and statewide forms. https://web.archive.org/web/20251117161024id_/https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2492/A-Engrossed (accessed 2026-07-19)
• 2024 Or. Laws ch. 70, § 54(4)–(7), amended by 2025 Or. Laws ch. 532 — automatic drug-enforcement-misdemeanor conviction sealing and warrant, multiple-offense, and mixed-case conditions. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2025orLaw0532.pdf (accessed 2026-08-20)