There are less than 30 days left for the millions of Californians who have been convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) to exercise their right to have their conviction expunged from their permanent criminal record.
Changes to the California law that gives those who successfully complete probation a right to have their criminal conviction dismissed go into affect on January 1, 2008. These changes may
leave those convicted of DUI, reckless driving, and driving on a suspended license with a misdemeanor or felony conviction for life.
While violations on a person's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) record disappear in time, the criminal conviction stays on a person's record for life -- unless it is expunged.
California Assembly Bill 645, which was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in July of 2007, modifies existing law to require those convicted for violating specified vehicle
codes to prove to a judge that it is "in the interest of justice to have the conviction expunged." Other common offenses on the specified list are reckless driving and driving on a
suspended license.
"This will make it much more difficult and costly for people to get convictions off of the record," says record expungement attorney (http://www.recordgone.com) specializes in criminal record expungement.
"Those convicted of DUI and the other offenses may have to go through life disclosing that they have a criminal conviction unless they begin the process to expunge their conviction before
the new law takes affect," says Higbee.
In a post 9-11 economy, where more than 80 percent of employers perform criminal background checks on job applicants, a person's ability to earn a living may depend on their ability to
get a misdemeanor or felony conviction expunged (