Criminal and juvenile records create lifelong barriers to employment, educational, housing, and social opportunities. Legal Aid’s Clean Slate Project focuses on helping people get dismissed criminal charges sealed, and convictions set aside or pardoned, to help address barriers caused by having a criminal record.
Common legal issues we help with
- Sealing juvenile court records for young adults
- Setting aside criminal convictions
- Sealing criminal court records
To see if your criminal record may be eligible for a set-aside or record sealing, complete the following questionnaire via the Nebraska Supreme Court Self-Help Center.
Information and forms for sealing and setting aside adult criminal records and juvenile records are available in our step-by-step online guide at Law Help Nebraska. The application may take 20-30 minutes.
Adult Record Sealing
You may be eligible to have your record sealed:
- For charges that were either dismissed or resulted in acquittal.
- If you have received a pardon; or
- If you have been a victim of human trafficking.
When a criminal record is sealed, it removes information about the arrest and conviction from the public record.
Click here for additional information on adult record sealing, including eligibility and the court process.
Juvenile Record Sealing
A record is a “juvenile record” if you were under the age of 18 when the offense took place.
- Juvenile records are normally sealed automatically when the case is closed.
- If the record is not sealed automatically, additional steps are required to ask the court to have those records sealed.
When a juvenile record is sealed, it removes information about the arrest and conviction from the public record.
Click here for additional information on juvenile record sealing, including eligibility and the court process.
Set-Asides
A set-aside is an order by the sentencing court that acts to void the conviction.
- A set-aside does not erase your conviction. Instead, a set-aside nullifies the prior conviction and restores certain civil rights.
- A person with a conviction that has been set-aside must still report that conviction to employers or landlords when asked but can explain that the conviction was subsequently nullified by the sentencing court.
Click here for additional information on set-asides, including eligibility and the court process.
Pardons
Board of Pardons
A pardon offers some of the same benefits as a set-aside, as it acts to nullify the conviction.
- A pardon from the Board of Pardons also allows for the return of certain rights that a set-side does not, including the return of gun rights and other rights that were taken away when you were convicted of a felony.
- A pardon does not mean that you were innocent, but it says that the Board has considered your conduct since sentencing and has determined that the applicant deserves to have their rights restored.
- For convictions that resulted in imprisonment of more than one year, a pardon from the Board of Pardons is the only clean slate method available.
- Once a record has been pardoned, it is eligible to be sealed.
Click here for additional information about obtaining a pardon from the Board of Pardons.
Information and forms for filing for a name change in Nebraska
