I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1434

To permit expungement of records of certain nonviolent criminal offenses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2003

Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To permit expungement of records of certain nonviolent 

criminal offenses.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Second Chance for Ex5 Offenders Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPUNGEMENT OF CRIMINAL RECORDS FOR CER7 TAIN NONVIOLENT OFFENDERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 229 of title 18, United 

9 States Code, is amended by inserting after subchapter C 

10 the following new subchapter: 
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1 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER D—EXPUNGEMENT

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘3631. Expungement of certain criminal records in limited circumstances. 

‘‘3632. Requirements for expungement. 

‘‘3633. Procedure for expungement. 

‘‘3634. Effect of expungement. 

‘‘3635. Reversal of expunged records. 

‘‘3636. Unsealing of records.

2 ‘‘§ 3631. Expungement of certain criminal records in 

3 limited circumstances 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any individual convicted of an 

5 nonviolent offense who fulfills the requirements of section 

6 3632 may file a petition under this subchapter to expunge 

7 the record of such conviction. 

8 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION OF NONVIOLENT OFFENSE.—In 

9 this subchapter, the term ‘nonviolent offense’ means a 

10 misdemeanor or felony offense against the United States 

11 that does not have as an element of the offense the use 

12 of a weapon or violence and which did not actually involve 

13 violence in its commission. 

14 ‘‘§ 3632. Requirements for expungement 

15 ‘‘No individual shall be eligible for expungement 

16 under this subchapter unless, before filing a petition under 

17 this subchapter, such individual—

18 ‘‘(1) has never been convicted of a violent of19 fense (including an offense under State law that 

20 would be a violent offense if it were Federal) other 

21 than the one for which expungement is sought; 
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1 ‘‘(2) has fulfilled all requirements of the sen2 tence of the court in which conviction was obtained, 

3 including completion of any term of imprisonment or 

4 period of probation, meeting all conditions of a su5 pervised release, and paying all fines; 

6 ‘‘(3) has remained free from dependency on or 

7 abuse of alcohol or a controlled substance a min8 imum of 1 year and has been rehabilitated, to the 

9 satisfaction of the court referred to in section 

10 3633(b), if so required by the terms of a supervised 

11 release; 

12 ‘‘(4) has obtained a high school diploma or 

13 completed a high school equivalency program; and 

14 ‘‘(5) has completed at least one year of commu15 nity service, as determined by the court referred to 

16 in section 3633(b). 

17 ‘‘§ 3633. Procedure for expungement 

18 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF SATISFACTION OF THE

19 COURT.—In this subchapter, the term ‘satisfaction of the 

20 court’ means the individual has met all conditions required 

21 at sentencing and conditions of probation by the court in 

22 which the conviction was obtained. 

23 ‘‘(b) PETITION.—An individual may file a petition for 

24 expungement at the satisfaction of the court in which the 

25 conviction was obtained if convicted of a felony and at the 
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1 satisfaction of the court in which the conviction was ob2 tained if convicted of a misdemeanor. A petition under this 

3 chapter may be made to the United States district court 

4 for the district in which the conviction was obtained. A 

5 copy of the petition shall be served by the court upon the 

6 United States Attorney for the district in which the con7 viction sought to be expunged was obtained. Not later 

8 than 60 days after receipt of such petition, the United 

9 States Attorney may submit written recommendations to 

10 the court and notify the petitioner of that recommenda11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(c) COURT-ORDERED EXPUNGEMENT.—The court, 

13 after consideration of evidence submitted by the petitioner 

14 in support of the petition and any evidence submitted by 

15 the Government in support of objections it may have to 

16 granting the petition, shall rule on the petition. In making 

17 that ruling the court, after determining whether the peti18 tioner meets the eligibility requirements of this sub19 chapter, shall weigh the interests of the petitioner against 

20 the best interests of justice and public safety.

21 ‘‘§ 3634. Effect of expungement 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An order granting expungement 

23 under this subchapter shall restore the individual con24 cerned, in the contemplation of the law, to the status such 

25 individual occupied before the arrest or institution of 
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1 criminal proceedings for the crime that was the subject 

2 of the expungement. 

3 ‘‘(b) NO DISQUALIFICATION; STATEMENTS.—After 

4 an order granting expungement of any individual’s crimi5 nal records under this subchapter, such individual shall 

6 not be required to divulge information pertaining to the 

7 expunged conviction and the fact that such individual has 

8 been convicted of the criminal offense concerned shall 

9 not—

10 ‘‘(1) operate as a disqualification of such indi11 vidual to pursue or engage in any lawful activity, oc12 cupation, profession, and 

13 ‘‘(2) held under any provision of law guilty of 

14 perjury, false answering, or making a false state15 ment by reason of his failure to recite or acknowl16 edge such arrest or institution of criminal pro17 ceedings, or results thereof, in response to an in18 quiry made of him for any purpose. 

19 ‘‘(c) RECORDS EXPUNGED OR SEALED.—Upon order 

20 of expungement, all official law enforcement and court 

21 records, including all references to such person’s arrest for 

22 the offense, the institution of criminal proceedings against 

23 him, and the results thereof, except publicly available 

24 court opinions or briefs on appeal, shall be expunged (in 
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1 the case of nontangible records) or gathered together and 

2 sealed (in the case of tangible records). 

3 ‘‘(d) RECORD OF DISPOSITION TO BE RETAINED.—

4 A nonpublic record of a disposition or conviction that is 

5 the subject of an expungement order shall be retained only 

6 by the Department of Justice solely for the purpose of use 

7 by the courts in any subsequent adjudication. 

8 ‘‘§ 3635. Disclosure of expunged records 

9 ‘‘(a) LAW ENFORCEMENT PURPOSES.—The Depart10 ment of Justice may maintain a nonpublic manual or com11 puterized index of expunged records containing only the 

12 name of, and alphanumeric identifiers that relate to, the 

13 persons who are the subject of such expunged records, the 

14 word ‘expunged’, and the name of the person, agency, of15 fice, or department that has custody of the expunged 

16 records, and shall not name the offense committed. The 

17 index shall be made available only to Federal and State 

18 law enforcement personnel who have custody of such ex19 punged records and only for the purposes set forth in sub20 section (b) of this section. 

21 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE.—Such records shall 

22 be made available to the person accused or to such per23 son’s designated agent and shall be made available to—

24 ‘‘(1) any prosecutor, law enforcement agency, 

25 or court which has responsibility for criminally in-
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1 vestigating, prosecuting, or adjudicating such indi2 vidual; 

3 ‘‘(2) any State or local office or agency with re4 sponsibility for the issuance of licenses to possess 

5 guns where the accused has made application for 

6 such license; or 

7 ‘‘(3) any prospective city, State, or Federal em8 ployer or agency, involved in investigating and/or 

9 prosecuting under criminal or civil statutes including 

10 employers of police or peace officers and in relation 

11 to an application for employment as an employee of 

12 a city, State, or Federal employer or agency involved 

13 in investigating or prosecuting under criminal or 

14 civil statutes including as a police officer or peace 

15 officer, and every person who is an applicant for the 

16 position of police officer, peace officer, or any other 

17 prospective city, State, or Federal employer or agen18 cy, involved in investigating or prosecuting under 

19 criminal or civil statutes shall be furnished with a 

20 copy of all records obtained under this paragraph 

21 and afforded an opportunity to make an explanation 

22 thereto. 

23 ‘‘(c) PUNISHMENT FOR IMPROPER DISCLOSURE.—

24 Any person who knowingly disseminates information relat25 ing to an expunged conviction other than the offender 
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1 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 

2 one year, or both. 

3 ‘‘§ 3636. Reversal of expunged records 

4 ‘‘The records expunged under this subchapter shall 

5 be restored by operation of law as public records and may 

6 be used in all court proceedings if the individual whose 

7 conviction was expunged is subsequently convicted of any 

8 Federal or State offense.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sub10 chapters at the beginning of chapter 229 of title 18, 

11 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

12 following item:

‘‘D. Expungement ............................................................................ 3631’’.

13 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this Act shall apply to individuals convicted of an offense 

15 before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.

Æ