How it works in Indiana

The steps

1. Get fingerprinted

   Indiana contracts with IDEMIA for electronic fingerprinting: its enrollment centers across the state capture your fingerprints and identifying information and send them electronically to the Indiana State Police. Schedule an appointment online or by phone at (877) 472-6917. You can pay by credit or debit card when you schedule, or at the fingerprinting service center by cashier's check or money order.

   Fingerprint fee: $12.95

2. Request your record

   Request a National Criminal History Report from the Indiana State Police. It is fingerprint-based, so the IDEMIA appointment from Step 1 submits it and you pay for it when you schedule or at the center. It contains all reported arrests, charges and dispositions from every state and federal jurisdiction in the United States, the most complete report available. Once processing is complete you receive either a copy of your transcript or a No Record Letter. The Indiana-only alternative is the Limited Criminal History Report: it covers only felony and misdemeanor arrests within Indiana, is searched by your name, date of birth, race and gender, and can be requested online or by mailing a request form to the Indiana State Police.

   Record request fee: $26.25 — Federal $11.25 + state $15.00 for the National Criminal History Report, paid with the $12.95 fingerprint fee at the IDEMIA appointment ($39.20 in all; the fees page prints $38.20 with the pre-2020 $11.95 fingerprint fee). The Indiana-only Limited Criminal History Report is $7.00 by mail or $16.32 online.

3. Review your record

   Confirm there is no disqualifying information in your history. If there is something incorrect, follow the process to challenge the issue. If everything is accurate, make a copy for your file and keep the original somewhere safe.

4. Request certified documents

   Collect certified copies of relevant documents. These include a copy of the disposition of the case from the clerk of court that handled the original case and the arrest record from the arresting agency. The court must find that you paid all fines, fees and court costs and satisfied any restitution your sentence imposed, so collect proof of those payments; the statute asks for no proof that you finished probation, parole or classes.

   Certified copy fee: $3.00

5. Verify the final documents

   Review each document for accuracy. Confirm each one is certified and clearly shows you completed your obligations. Make copies of every original.

6. Prepare your petition

   Complete the petition based on the type of charge and outcome you are seeking. Indiana law sets the waiting periods under IC 35-38-9: one year after the arrest or charge for an arrest that ended with no conviction; five years after the conviction for a misdemeanor, including a felony reduced to one; eight years after the conviction for a Class D or Level 6 felony; for other felonies, the later of eight years after the conviction or three years after you complete your sentence; and for the felonies the law lets you expunge only with the prosecuting attorney's written consent, the later of ten years after the conviction or five years after you complete your sentence. The prosecuting attorney can agree in writing to a shorter wait, and each tier excludes some people and offenses, so check the section for your conviction. Confirm your waiting period before you file.

7. Finalize your petition

   Take the completed petition from Step 6, the documents collected in Step 4, and the background check from Step 2, and put them together in a complete package. Double-check every file in the package is the original and ensure you have a copy of the complete package for your personal file. The petition must be verified and list your full name and every other name you have used, your date of birth, your addresses since the offense, the case numbers, every conviction and collateral action with its date and any appeal, your Social Security and driver's license numbers, the dates of your arrest and conviction, an affirmation that no investigation or charges are pending and that you committed no other felony or misdemeanor in the waiting period, an affirmation that the waiting period has passed (or the prosecuting attorney's written consent to a shorter one), and any other expungement petitions you have filed; the court can deny a petition that misses any of these without a hearing.

8. File your expungement petition

   File the verified petition in a circuit or superior court in the county where you were convicted; a petition for an arrest record goes to a circuit or superior court in the county where the charges were filed, or where the arrest happened if no charges were filed. Put every conviction in the same county into one petition; convictions in other counties need their own petitions, filed within the same 365 days. Pay the filing fee for a civil case — the court may reduce or waive it if you are indigent — and there is no fee for an arrest-record petition. Then serve a copy of the petition on the prosecuting attorney under the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure; for an arrest-record petition the court serves it.

   Filing fee: $100.00 — the base civil costs fee; the clerk adds the statutory add-on fees of IC 33-37-4-4(b) (document storage $5, automated record keeping $20, public defense administration $5, judicial insurance $1, court administration $5, and the judicial salaries fee on its stepped schedule), so the counter total is higher; the court may reduce or waive it if you are indigent; no fee for an arrest-record petition

9. Work with the court

   The prosecuting attorney has thirty days to reply; silence waives any objection. If no one objects, the court can grant the petition without a hearing. If the prosecuting attorney objects, the court sets a hearing at least sixty days after the prosecuting attorney was served; a victim of the offense may speak or write for or against the petition there, and you must prove the facts in your petition by a preponderance of the evidence. Watch for the court's notices and respond promptly to anything it asks for.

10. Receive the court's order

    Once the judge rules, the court issues a written order either granting or denying your petition. Review the order's terms carefully — they spell out which records are covered and whether each is sealed, or marked as expunged. Keep a certified copy for your own files.

11. Verify the record update

    Under IC 35-38-9, the court's order does the work. For a misdemeanor or a Class D or Level 6 felony it orders the Indiana State Police to seal your records in the central repository, orders the Department of Correction, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and every law enforcement agency or other person that handled your case not to release them without a court order (a law enforcement officer on duty can still see them), and permanently seals the court records. For any other felony the records stay public, but the court orders them clearly marked as expunged, and the state police, the BMV and every law enforcement agency that holds them must add that entry. The court forwards the order to the Indiana State Police Expungement Section, which you can reach at (317) 234-4427 or Expungement@isp.IN.gov. If a background-check provider later produces an outdated report, your certified copy of the order is your authoritative reference, and the law penalizes a criminal history provider that reports an expunged conviction. Confirm with the original arresting agency that its records reflect the order as well.

If you have to mail anything, remember to keep a copy of whatever you send and to use a method with a tracking number like the USPS Flat Rate Envelope.