Clean Slate is a broader expungement pathway for people who are not eligible under another section of New Jersey’s expungement law. It is designed to address an entire eligible criminal history after a longer waiting period.
Who Can Use Clean Slate?
N.J.S.A. 2C:52-5.3 permits an eligible person with one or more crimes, disorderly persons offenses, petty disorderly persons offenses, municipal violations, or a combination of them to seek expungement of the record. A conviction that is barred under N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2(b) or (c) can disqualify the petition.
Clean Slate can also be available despite a prior expungement, which is one reason it may fit a record that does not qualify for ordinary expungement.
The Waiting Period Is Ten Years
The ten-year period runs from the latest of the most recent conviction, payment of a court-ordered financial assessment, completion of probation or parole, or release from incarceration.
The statute contains separate provisions for unpaid or late-paid financial assessments, but they do not make payment history irrelevant.
Out-of-State Convictions Count
In In re K.M.G., the Appellate Division held that a Virginia conviction entered within the ten-year period prevented Clean Slate relief for the New Jersey record. The court rejected the argument that only New Jersey convictions should count when deciding whether the person remained conviction-free for the required period.
Restitution Can Still Matter
In In re R.G.C., decided in April 2026, the Appellate Division addressed a petitioner who had satisfied the ten-year period but had not paid the remaining restitution judgment. The court required competent and credible evidence to support the claim that the nonpayment was not willful.
Clean Slate Is Still Petition-Based Today
The 2019 legislation directed New Jersey to create an automated Clean Slate process. As of September 2026, the fully petition-less system has not replaced the existing petition process. The Judiciary’s current system still permits eligible people to file a Clean Slate petition electronically.
Clean Slate Is Not a Shortcut Around a Statutory Bar
The broader scope of Clean Slate does not erase the exclusions built into the statute. The starting point remains a complete history and a check for convictions that New Jersey law makes nonexpungable.