I was charged back in 2006 with shoplifting. Went to court, got a diversion and was told to pay $40. That was the end of it. Do I have a criminal record? I am on a lot of medication.

[i was caught shoplifting back in 2006. Went to court and they said it was diversion and I had to pay $40.00. I am on lots of medication. Do I have a criminal record?QUOTE=;][/QUOTE]

I was charged with shoplifting back in 2006. I had my fingerprints and picture taken. I went to court and they said it was a diversion and I had to pay $40.00. Do I have a criminal record and can I get it erased? I am on lots of medication.

No, you do not have a criminal record because you got diversion which means that the charges were dropped. People only get criminal records if they were convicted of a crime (i.e. if you were charged, went to court and were found guilty). However, you may have a police record, but keep in mind that is different from a criminal record. Sometimes future employers might ask for your permission to do a police background check, and in that case if the police made an incident report during your arrest then the employer would be able to see you got arrested. It wouldn't say why you got arrested so the employer might ask for details and it's entirely up to your discretion how much info you want to give. If you want you can go to a police station and ask for a copy of your police record just to see what exactly is on it (they might charge you a small fee though). It could also include non-criminal involvement with the police, like if you ever filed against someone for sexual assault, or if the police transported you to a hospital.

Also, I meant to add that police records are generally kept for 5 years and cleared out after that, so if your incident happened in 2006 then it might be cleared sometime in 2011 or it's possibly it's already gone if there ever was one.