§ 1019 — Effect of expungement; disclosure of expunged records

(a) The Court shall notify the State Bureau of Identification (Bureau) of any expungement order. If an order expunging part or all of a juvenile criminal history is granted by the court, all indicia of arrest, including police and court records and any electronic records relating to the arrest, and any other items specified in the order shall, within 60 days of receipt of the order, be removed from the files and placed in the control of the Supervisor of the State Bureau of Identification who shall be designated to retain control over all expunged records, and who shall insure that the records or the information contained therein is not released for any reason except as specified in this subchapter. A court or police agency that receives a notice of expungement from the State Bureau of Identification shall provide the Bureau with written confirmation of the completion of the expungement. The State Bureau of Identification shall provide the court that entered the order with written confirmation of the execution of the order. In response to requests from nonlaw-enforcement officers for information or records on the person who was arrested, law-enforcement officers and departments shall reply, with respect to the arrest and proceedings which are the subject of the order, that there is no record. No order requiring an expungement of any record shall be entered or enforced if such order is contrary to the provisions of this subchapter. The State Bureau of Identification shall promptly notify the court if it is unable to comply with any order issued pursuant to this subchapter.

(b) A felony adjudication expunged pursuant to this section shall cease to be the basis for a person prohibited pursuant to § 1448(a)(4) of Title 11.

(c) An offense for which the juvenile criminal history and indicia of arrest has been expunged pursuant to this subchapter does not have to be disclosed as an arrest by the petitioner for any reason.

(d) Except for disclosure to law-enforcement officers acting in the lawful performance of their duties in investigating criminal activity or for the purpose of an employment application as an employee of a law-enforcement agency, it shall be unlawful for any person having or acquiring access to an expunged court or police record to open or review it or to disclose to another person any information from it without an order from the court which ordered the record expunged. In addition to such other lawful purposes as may be prescribed by statute or otherwise, criminal justice agencies shall have access to records of expunged probations before adjudication of delinquency, arbitration and past participation in the First Offenders Controlled Substance Diversion Program or a court-supervised drug diversion program for the purpose of determining whether a person is eligible for a probation before judgment, or probation before adjudication of delinquency as set forth in § 1009A of this title and § 4218 of Title 11, or for participation in the First Offenders Controlled Substance Diversion Program, as set forth in § 4767 of Title 16, or for participation in a court-supervised drug diversion program.

(e) Where disclosure to law-enforcement officers is permitted by subsection (d) of this section, such disclosure shall apply for the purpose of investigating particular criminal activity in which the person, whose records have been expunged, is considered a suspect and the crime being investigated is a felony, or pursuant to an investigation of an employment application as an employee of a law-enforcement agency.

(f) Nothing contained in this section shall require the destruction of photographs or fingerprints taken in connection with any arrest and which are utilized solely by law-enforcement officers in the lawful performance of their duties in investigating criminal activity.

(g) Nothing herein shall require the destruction of court records or records of the Department of Justice. However, all such records, including docket books, relating to a charge which has been the subject of an expungement order shall be handled and stored so as to ensure that they are not open to public inspection or disclosure.

(h) Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

(i) For a period of 3 years following the date the court grants a petition for expungement, the State Bureau of Identification shall make available to criminal justice agencies such electronic records as will enable criminal justice agencies to determine whether a child or person who seeks to participate in arbitration, a court-supervised diversion program, or probation before adjudication of delinquency, or probation before judgment, has done so before and had their record expunged.

(j) (1) If the State Bureau of Identification determines that expungement is mandated under this subchapter, or receives an expungement order from a court, it shall promptly notify all courts and law-enforcement agencies where records pertaining to the case are located or maintained, and any court where the case was terminated, disposed of, or concluded.

(2) A court or law-enforcement agency which receives a notice of expungement from the Bureau shall provide the Bureau with written confirmation of the completion of the expungement. Where an expungement of an adjudication of delinquency is granted, all arrest records associated with any charge in that case must also be expunged.

Legislative History

78 Del. Laws, c. 188, § 2 ; 80 Del. Laws, c. 414, § 1 ; 81 Del. Laws, c. 451, § 2 ; 83 Del. Laws, c. 265, § 2 ; 83 Del. Laws, c. 266, § 5