What is a criminal record, and how is it deleted?

Two registers must be distinguished. The criminal register holds convictions and sentences handed down by a court. Separately, there is a register of closed files and pending files, which is not a criminal record but is visible to the police and security bodies (section 27). Someone whose file was closed for lack of guilt appears in neither.

The law sets two stages for every conviction: a limitation period, after which most bodies may no longer receive the information, and a deletion period, after which the entry is deleted and remains accessible only to a few bodies. The length of the periods depends on the severity of the sentence: actual imprisonment carries longer periods than a fine or a suspended sentence, and periods for minors are shorter. The period in your case is checked against the sentence.

What can be done: the President of the State may shorten the limitation and deletion periods on a pardon application. An entry for a closed file can be cancelled by a senior police officer (section 33(a)), and some entries are deleted automatically after a number of years (section 33(c)). A private employer may not demand a printout of your record.

What a lawyer does: checks exactly what is recorded about you and why, files a request to cancel a closed-file entry or change the ground of closure, prepares a pardon application to shorten the periods where justified, and at trial argues for a non-conviction outcome where the law allows.

Source in law: Criminal Information and Rehabilitation Law, 5779-2019, sections 27 and 33