PC 1203.425

Automatic record relief (PC 1203.425)

California has been clearing criminal records automatically, at no cost, for millions of people — and it does not notify a single one of them. Read this before you pay anyone, including us.

What it does

The Department of Justice reviews state records monthly and adds a relief notation to qualifying convictions, which stops them being disseminated to employers.

What it does not do

It is not a dismissal, a sealing or an expungement. It produces no document, it does not reduce a felony to a misdemeanour, and it does not cover serious or violent felonies or registerable offences.

This is the most important page on this site, and it is the one that costs us money to publish. California now clears a very large class of criminal records automatically. You do not apply. You are not told. It simply happens, or it does not.

The numbers

Between 1 July 2022 and 31 December 2023 the Department of Justice granted automatic relief to 6,861,324 individuals across 11,876,503 arrest and conviction events. Of those people, 2,930,051 — 42.7% — had every one of their events relieved. The other 57.3% still have something on their record. Los Angeles County alone accounted for just over a quarter of the people relieved.

What it is, precisely

The Department of Justice is equally direct about the limits: automatic record relief is not a dismissal, sealing or expungement. It adds a notation to the record, and that notation is used to decide whether the record is disseminated to employers. The conviction is still a conviction. The record still exists.

How to check your own record

Apply to the California Department of Justice for your own state summary criminal history — this is the record people call a RAP sheet.
You will need to be fingerprinted through a Live Scan provider, and there is a $25 Department of Justice fee.
When the record arrives, look at each conviction entry for a note reading 'relief granted'. For arrests, look for 'arrest relief granted'.
If every entry you care about shows relief, you may not need to hire anyone at all.

When it is still worth petitioning

There are four real reasons, and they are the only ones we will give you:

Automatic relief does not reduce a felony to a misdemeanour. If yours is a wobbler, a Penal Code 17(b) reduction is a separate and often more valuable step.
It produces no document. A licensing board that cannot see the relief on the Department of Justice report will ask you to prove the dismissal, and only a court order does that.
Some statutes specifically require proof of a court dismissal, and say so.
Commercial background check companies are not required to keep up, and frequently report stale data that a court order is the practical answer to.

Who qualifies

The conviction is from 1 January 1973 onwards
You are not required to register as a sex offender
You are not currently on supervision, serving a sentence, or facing charges
You completed probation without it being revoked, or
It was an infraction or misdemeanour with no probation and a year has passed, or
It was a felony where everything is complete, four years have passed, there has been no new felony conviction, and the offence is not serious, violent or registerable

Who does not

Serious felonies and violent felonies
Offences requiring sex-offender registration
Anyone currently under supervision or facing charges

The forms and how long it takes

Nothing is filed — this happens without any petition

The Department of Justice reviews records monthly. Checking whether it happened to you means ordering your own record, which costs $25 and takes a few weeks.

Common questions

If the State already cleared it, why does it still show up?

Two reasons. Commercial background check databases buy records periodically and are not required to refresh them, so stale data circulates for years. And automatic relief limits dissemination rather than erasing the entry, so some checks still see it with the notation attached.

Does automatic relief cover my felony?

Possibly. A felony qualifies only where everything is complete, four years have passed with no new felony conviction, and the offence is not serious, violent or registerable. That last test is a legal question about your specific offence, which is why our check sends felony cases to be looked at rather than answering it.

Should I just wait for automatic relief instead of petitioning?

If you qualify and you only need employers not to see it, quite possibly yes, and we will tell you so. If you need a document, a felony reduced, or an answer this month rather than at some unannounced point in the future, petitioning is the way.

Do you charge for telling me this?

No. The eligibility check is free and does not ask for an email address before it gives you an answer.

Legal information on this page was last checked against primary sources in October 2026. California law changes; if you are reading this long after that date, confirm before you rely on it.