My question is this-We live in California & I just finished school to become an Early Childhood Education teacher. My husband & I had a wicked argument when we were going through a stressful time. I was going to take our son & go to Chicago because I'd had it. To prevent me from leaving my husband called the police & said I threatened him so I was arrested for domestic violence. This never even made it to court because my husband told the DA he lied, so there was no conviction & I have no past anything on record.
We have obtained an attorney to try & seal the arrest record. My husband has admitted to lying in a written statement. I won't know the results of this until August. In the mean time what I'd like to know is this:
If a judge won't seal the record (I guess In CA they are tough on DV) will this arrest show up on a federal criminal background check? We are moving from CA to KY and they do a FBI check as opposed to a DOJ check. I did my own DOJ check & the arrest did show up.
If the judge does seal it I've heard it can still show up. Any & all advice is greatly appreciated.

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Originally Posted by andi28

My question is this-We live in California & I just finished school to become an Early Childhood Education teacher. My husband & I had a wicked argument when we were going through a stressful time. I was going to take our son & go to Chicago because I'd had it. To prevent me from leaving my husband called the police & said I threatened him so I was arrested for domestic violence. This never even made it to court because my husband told the DA he lied, so there was no conviction & I have no past anything on record.
We have obtained an attorney to try & seal the arrest record. My husband has admitted to lying in a written statement. I won't know the results of this until August. In the mean time what I'd like to know is this:
If a judge won't seal the record (I guess In CA they are tough on DV) will this arrest show up on a federal criminal background check? We are moving from CA to KY and they do a FBI check as opposed to a DOJ check. I did my own DOJ check & the arrest did show up.
If the judge does seal it I've heard it can still show up. Any & all advice is greatly appreciated.

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It depends on the extent of the background check - schools are tough when it comes to background checks for teachers (for good reason).

EDIT - I am adding this comment instead of adding another post to the thread - in "my" school district (because there has been some abuse) the question is "have you ever been arrested?" I suspect those who answer yes find their resume on the bottom of the pile but I don't really know. Doesn't change how anyone else answered.

Hello andi:

An arrest shouldn't hold you back. Convictions would be something to worry about, but everybody's been arrested a couple times... No?

excon

In addition to what was said above, an arrest indicates that there was a probable cause determination made at some point and if there was no finding of guilt (as in a verdict or plea), you were not legally found to have committed the offense.

If a person can be shown to have lied in a statement that was used to establish probable cause, that person has committed a crime as the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires the person to swear an oath that what they are saying is truthful.

If such a determination can be made, an attorney could start a proceeding to have the probable cause finding removed (or sealed) from your arrest record. However, the record could show up on local arrest records (called CJIS in my state) as well as FBI (known as NCIC) records. As mentioned above, it will depend on the school system as to whether an arrest without a conviction will matter.

I was a probation officer for several years and found that in cases where someone tried to have an arrest record expunged, they had great difficulty in doing so. It seems to be much easier to expunge court records than arrest records.

Thank you Jim, this is very helpful. My attorney stated the same thing. Anyone can accuse anyone of a crime & you could be arrested but that does not mean the claim is true. In California you are not allowed to ask about arrest records only convictions. The CCTC (California Committee on Teacher Credentialing) only looks at convictions as well so I should be able to get my permit, however, I'm worried about places that employ me. They will do a DOJ (Department of Justice) & an FBI background check. My worry is that my personal DOJ copy shows the charges and does not show the disposition and I wonder if that's because it's my copy or is this what an employer will see. I thought only police officers & government officials can see arrest records. I have never been convicted of anything but still... I don't know that I'd hire someone w/ an arrest. I want to know if they will see this. If they can only see convictions than I have no cause to worry but that the big question. I won't know until August if the judge will grant sealing & you are 100% correct in the difficulty of doing this-especially in CA-they take a STRONG stance on DV.

First on the official police report, the public record never shows arrests, only convitions. Merely an arrest should not effect any positioin, and in fact should not even show up on a background check.

To verify, go to the local police station and run a background check on yourself. In fact I am not sure it is even possible to "seal" something that is not public to start with.

As I mentioned in other posts, in my state (MD) an employer can register with CJIS (Criminal Justice Information System) and, for a fee, get an access number which will allow them to check on arrest records. CJIS lists arrests in the state but does not include FBI records. When I worked for NASA security some years ago, we could also access arrest records.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

First on the official police report, the public record never shows arrests, only convitions. Merely an arrest should not effect any positioin, and in fact should not even show up on a background check.

To verify, go to the local police station and run a background check on yourself. In fact I am not sure it is even possible to "seal" something that is not public to start with.

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OK so is the reason I can see it on the DOJ livescan I requested because I have the right to see all info on myself?
On the Attorney General website it states that the teacher credentialing commission her in CA can only look at convictions so I don't have any so will they see no record?
THey are a human services group & do look at FBI as well as DOJ backgrounds but do they as it states on the CA Attorney General site get only convictions?
There seems to be no definitive answers with the law and there really should be. I mean what's to stop me from getting angry at so & so and saying they threatened me to be vengeful? I would never because I believe in karma but I could & then they are arrested BUT no evidence is found so the end right? NO-they have an arrest record-I screwed up their life. I'm still mad at my husband but I know he was desperate at the moment & did not realize what he was doing but if I can't work he will have to support my butt.
I would just like to know what happens once arrested but the case is dropped by the DA. Why is this on my DOJ Livescan inquiry?

Arrest records are on the report, but are not suppose to be visible to anyone that is not law enforcement and/or national security records.
It has been a few years since I have been though the NCIC records class but I don't believe the rules on this has changed.

Its still there because an arrest is based on probable cause as required by the Fourth Amendment, and nothing has been legally done to remove the finding of probable cause.

Thank you both for all your help & insight. I don't think my lawyer is very knowledgeable on this because sealing arrests is not often done & is not easy. I'm trying to stay positive & I'm praying to St. Jude who has always answered my prayers.
I just wish there was a clear, definitive answer but there is just a lot of conflicting information :(

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Originally Posted by andi28

My question is this-We live in California & I just finished school to become an Early Childhood Education teacher. My husband & I had a wicked argument when we were going through a stressful time. I was going to take our son & go to Chicago because I'd had it. To prevent me from leaving my husband called the police & said I threatened him so I was arrested for domestic violence. This never even made it to court because my husband told the DA he lied, so there was no conviction & I have no past anything on record.
We have obtained an attorney to try & seal the arrest record. My husband has admitted to lying in a written statement. I won't know the results of this until August. In the mean time what I'd like to know is this:
If a judge won't seal the record (I guess In CA they are tough on DV) will this arrest show up on a federal criminal background check? We are moving from CA to KY and they do a FBI check as opposed to a DOJ check. I did my own DOJ check & the arrest did show up.
If the judge does seal it I've heard it can still show up. Any & all advice is greatly appreciated.

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Greetings,

My understanding of this is that if the offense does not result in a conviction, they cannot use it against you. The state of Kentucky may or may not delve that deep into your past; it really depends. Most background checks won't reveal arrests that didn't result in convictions, though if they show up it's like trying to unring a bell. Without doubt, you'd find a job somewhere, it just all depends on how much they want to spend on background investigations (are they doing a simple internet company check, or fingerprints and interviewing your neighbors and/or relatives from ten years ago? Hard to say... ). I'd keep looking and not limit myself to one place. I found a good job at an institution that didn't even ask... a professional education job at that... higher education is typically more liberal than K-12 too, so you might keep that in mind as well. Just keep trying, and utilize the "shotgun" strategy: put out a lot of applications and hope the stats will work in your favor. It worked for me!

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Originally Posted by andi28

Thank you both for all your help & insight. I don't think my lawyer is very knowledgeable on this because sealing arrests is not often done & is not easy. I'm trying to stay positive & I'm praying to St. Jude who has always answered my prayers.
I just wish there was a clear, definitive answer but there is just a lot of conflicting information :(

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For sure! There is A LOT of conflicting information about this...

Essentially, if they find out, you probably won't get it because there's usually a pile of applicants who DO NOT have anything on their records, so the odds work against you. It's going to vary depending on how much they want to spend on a check and how deep they want to go. The military has even reported verbal traffic WARNINGS when doing security clearance background checks, but some places may simply do a quick check... you just never know, but I wouldn't give up and act like it's going to show up everywhere, because most places won't simply look at arrests, and it's illegal for them to use if it did not result in a conviction (in most states)... it is definitely a grey area of the law...