 Never before in the history of our country has your criminal record been more important to you. We now have applications that used to say, have you ever been convicted of a felon? And now they say, have you ever been arrested, including misdemeanors? It's extremely important to understand that if you've been arrested or have a prior arrest record, now is the time to get it sealed or expunged and off your record so it doesn't get in the way of your future employment, your credit history, or anything else that may involve you disclosing your prior arrest or convictions. To make this happen, you need to understand how. A lot of people believe if they enter a diversion program or they enter a plea that does not involve a conviction that their criminal record is automatically dismissed, expunged or sealed. That's not the case. Even if you have had your case dismissed because the prosecution did not go forward with the prosecution or you finished successfully a diversion program or you entered a plea and received a withhold of adjudication or no contest, if you had your case resolved any way, form, and fashion, that does not mean it was sealed or expunged. You need to take the next step to make that happen to keep your record clean. And here's how you do it. The first thing you do is you need to hire a lawyer to help you with the process. He or she will collect data from you. The first thing you'll do is it's going to get a complete history of your criminal record. The next thing that happens is there will be an application to the local either prosecuting authority or in most states the Florida Department of Law Enforcement here in Florida or other states, their Department of Law Enforcement and they will do a background check to make sure that that's the only case that you have or the way that your case was resolved can ultimately achieve to a seal and expungement. That will also involve you getting a print card and submitting your fingerprints to ensure that you are the person that pled. After that occurs your lawyer will attend a court hearing and give that information to the judge and then, and only then get a court order which will direct that your prior conviction is either sealed or expunged, meaning that it will be taken off the public purview. Meaning that means that someone cannot see it. Once this happens in most states you can then truthfully say to a future employer I have not been arrested, I do not have any criminal record and it will be off the record books.