Colorado Clean Slate Law

Colorado passed a Clean Slate law in 2022. As a result, arrest records without charges are eligible to be automatically sealed after 1 year, and non-conviction records (e.g., dismissals and acquittals) are sealed upon disposition. Convictions are automatically sealed after 4 years for civil infractions, 7 years for misdemeanors, and 10 years for eligible felonies, excluding offenses like violent crimes, sexual offenses, and domestic violence. Outstanding fines or fees do not affect eligibility. To be eligible for automatic sealing, petty offenses must have no more than 5 separate criminal convictions, lower-level misdemeanors must have no more than 4 prior separate convictions, and high-level misdemeanors and eligible felonies must have no more than 3 prior separate convictions. In addition, if a case includes multiple charges, the most serious offense eligibility criteria apply to all charges, meaning that all offenses within the case must be eligible for sealing. 

In Colorado, sealing a record means that it will no longer show up on background checks for most jobs and occupational licenses, and you can answer most questions about your criminal record as if it never occurred.