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Effective July 1, 2025, the Clean Slate laws will seal certain criminal records, meaning they will no longer be publicly accessible. George Townsend, attorney and founder of the Clean Slate Virginia law firm, said most misdemeanors can be sealed, with the exception of DUIs and domestic assault. Class five and class six felonies will also be eligible for sealing and those punished like grand larceny. 

“It’s exciting news for Virginia,” Townsend said. “These laws have been a long time coming, and honestly, there’s been legislators working on laws similar to this for decades in Virginia.”

Prior to these Clean Slate laws, Townsend said Virginia was in the bottom five states for criminal record forgiveness.  

He explained people often get confused about the difference between expungement and record sealing. Expungements only apply to people found innocent, or who were not convicted. Criminal convictions can be sealed.

According to the Virginia State Crime Commission, there are around 4,000 expungement orders per year, and the Clean Slate laws have the potential to seal 10 times that, Townsend said.

There are some charges that will be automatically sealed come July 1, if the offender has no new criminal convictions for seven years. Qualifying charges include underage possession of alcohol, petit larceny, concealing merchandise, trespassing, distribution and possession of marijuana, and disorderly conduct. 

For felony charges, qualifying convictions can be sealed if there are no new criminal convictions within 10 years. 

According to Clean Slate Virginia, qualifying convictions can also be sealed if there is proven rehabilitation, if the record shows drug dependence, no more than two previously sealed convictions, the continued existence of the conviction constitutes manifest injustice, if there’s never been a class one or two felony charge that carries a life sentence, if there’s no class three of four felony convictions within 20 years, or if there’s no felony conviction within 10 years. 

If a conviction is not automatically sealed, a petition can be filed with the circuit court to request the record to be sealed, which will probably be most cases, Townsend said. 

“You can see the way it’s set up … there’s the possibility of a second chance, but people really have to earn it,” Townsend said. “People have to go that time period without another criminal conviction, and then it would be sealed.”

In response to those who may worry about the safety and effectiveness of the Clean Slate laws, Townsend highlighted the laws apply to nonviolent offenses and there are 25 exceptions where a sealed conviction can be seen, such as nursing jobs, law enforcement, banking, and government agencies. 

Townsend said there is no evidence that these laws increase crime. Rather, there’s research to suggest the opposite. These laws incentivize them not to commit another crime in hopes of getting their current conviction sealed. 

“When you dive deeper into these laws across the country, they benefit everyone because they actually decrease crime by decreasing recidivism, and they actually increase employment,” Townsend said. “So they benefit employers and employees, and they increase the tax base.”

The biggest challenge with the Clean Slate laws, he said, is getting the word out to people about how to petition for their records to be sealed. That’s the gap Townsend is trying to fill with his law firm. 

He said he’s doing everything he can to explain the laws in a way people will understand, and he hopes to partner with community activists and legislators to continue to educate people about them.

“They really are very impactful,” Townsend said. “I realize nothing is unanimous. Nothing was supported unanimously, but these really are good, impactful laws that decrease crime and help employment across the board.”