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Benefits of Expungement

arizona-flag-expungementArizona’s setting aside judgment law is designed to help deserving people be more productive and put their past bad decisions behind them. Once your judgment is set aside, you can answer with confidence to any inquiry, including, without limitation, an inquiry relating to an application for employment, that you have not been convicted of a crime (though, in some instance, you must also call attention to your setting aside order for felony convictions).

If the crime you were convicted of was a felony, you can also apply to have your civil rights restored. Additionally, in most felony cases in state or federal court, you can apply to have your gun rights restored. You can learn more here.

Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a “lesser” criminal act. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than felonies; but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as regulatory offenses).

Felony
The term felony is a term used in common law systems for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. It is principally used in criminal law in the United States legal system.

Expunction
Theoretically, federal law allows persons convicted of felonies in a federal United States district court to apply to have their record expunged after a certain period of time with a clean record. However, the U.S. Congress has refused to fund the federal agency mandated with handling the applications of convicted felons to have their record expunged. For state law convictions, expunction is determined by the law of the state. Some states do not allow this, regardless of the offense.