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Pennsylvania Statutes Title 18 Pa.C.S.A. Crimes and Offenses § 9122.1. Petition for limited access

Current as of January 01, 2025 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

(a) General rule.--Subject to the exceptions in subsection (b) and notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, upon petition of a person who has been free from conviction for a period of seven years for an offense punishable by one or more years in prison and has completed payment of all court-ordered restitution and the fee previously authorized to carry out the limited access and clean slate limited access provisions, the court of common pleas in the jurisdiction where a conviction occurred may enter an order that criminal history record information maintained by a criminal justice agency pertaining to a qualifying misdemeanor or an ungraded offense which carries a maximum penalty of no more than five years be disseminated only to a criminal justice agency or as provided in section 9121(b.1) and (b.2) (relating to general regulations). A court may not enter an order under this subsection unless the person who filed the petition, upon payment of all court-ordered restitution, also paid the fee previously authorized to carry out the limited access and clean slate limited access provisions.

(a.1) Additional criteria.--Upon petition of a person who has been free from conviction for a period of 10 years for an offense punishable by one or more years in prison and has completed payment of all court-ordered restitution and the fee previously authorized to carry out the limited access and clean slate limited access provisions, the court of common pleas in the jurisdiction where a conviction occurred may enter an order that criminal history record information maintained by a criminal justice agency pertaining to a qualifying felony under this section be disseminated only to a criminal justice agency or as provided in section 9121(b.1) and (b.2). A court may not enter an order under this subsection unless the person who filed the petition, upon payment of all court-ordered restitution, also paid the fee previously authorized to carry out the limited access and clean slate limited access provisions. As used in this subsection, a qualifying felony is any of the following or an attempt, conspiracy or solicitation to commit any of the following, excluding felonies of the first and second degrees:

(1) An offense under section 3304 (relating to criminal mischief).

(2) An offense under section 3503 (relating to criminal trespass).

(3) An offense under Chapter 39 (relating to theft and related offenses).

(4) An offense under Chapter 41 (relating to forgery and fraudulent practices).

(5) An offense under section 481 of the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L. 31, No. 21),  1 known as the Human Services Code.

(6) A qualifying offense.

(b) Exceptions.--An order for limited access under this section shall not be granted for any of the following:

(1) A conviction for an offense punishable by more than two years in prison which is any of the following or an attempt, conspiracy or solicitation to commit any of the following:

(i) An offense under Article B of Part II (relating to offenses involving danger to the person). 2 This paragraph shall not apply to a misdemeanor offense under section 2706 (relating to terroristic threats).

(ii) An offense under Article D of Part II (relating to offenses against the family). 3

(iii) An offense under Chapter 61 (relating to firearms and other dangerous articles).

(iv) An offense specified in 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.14 (relating to sexual offenses and tier system) and 9799.55 (relating to registration).

(v) An offense under section 6301(a)(1) (relating to corruption of minors).

(2) An individual who meets any of the following:

(i) Has been convicted of murder, a felony of the first degree or an offense punishable by imprisonment of 20 or more years.

(ii) Has been convicted within the previous 15 years of:

(A) a felony or an offense punishable by imprisonment of seven or more years involving:

(I) an offense under Article B of Part II;

(II) an offense under Article D of Part II;

(III) an offense under Chapter 61; or

(IV) an offense specified in 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9799.14 and 9799.55;

(B) four or more offenses punishable by imprisonment of two or more years; or

(C) any of the following offenses:

(I) An offense under section 3127 (relating to indecent exposure).

(II) An offense under section 3129 (relating to sexual intercourse with animal).

(III) An offense under section 4915.1 (relating to failure to comply with registration requirements) or 4915.2 (relating to failure to comply with 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 97 Subch. I  4 registration requirements).

(IV) An offense under section 5122 (relating to weapons or implements for escape).

(V) An offense under section 5510 (relating to abuse of corpse).

(VI) An offense under section 5515 (relating to prohibiting of paramilitary training).

(iii) Has, within the previous 10 years, been convicted of two or more offenses punishable by more than two years in prison.

(A), (B) Deleted by 2023, Dec. 14, P.L. 334, No. 36, § 3, effective in 60 days [Feb. 12, 2024].

(3) to (9) Deleted by 2018, June 28, P.L. 402, No. 56, § 1, effective in 180 days [Dec. 26, 2018].

(b.1) Consolidation.--For the purpose of this section, the conviction of two or more offenses charged in separate counts that are consolidated under one docket number and share the same offense tracking number shall be deemed to be one conviction.

(c) Notice to district attorney.--The court shall provide notice of the filing of a petition under subsection (a) to the district attorney within 10 days. Within 30 days of receipt of notice, the district attorney may file objections to the petition. If no objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without further hearing if the requirements of this section have been met.

(d) Notice to central repository.--Notice of an order for limited access shall promptly be submitted to the central repository which shall notify all criminal justice agencies which have received criminal history record information related to such conviction that access to such criminal history record has been limited by order of the court.

1 62 P.S. § 481.
2 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2301 et seq.
3 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 4301 et seq.
4 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9799.51 et seq.
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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Pennsylvania Statutes Title 18 Pa.C.S.A. Crimes and Offenses § 9122.1. Petition for limited access - last updated January 01, 2025 | https://codes.findlaw.com/pa/title-18-pacsa-crimes-and-offenses/pa-csa-sect-18-9122-1/

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