In Colorado, expungement and record sealing offer individual’s the opportunity to limit access to their criminal records. Record sealing makes a criminal record inaccessible to the general public. This means that an individual’s criminal record is typically hidden from most background checks, though it can still be accessed by police, prosecutors, and certain government agencies. Inversely, expungement completely destroys any criminal charges on one’s record, making them completely inaccessible and eliminating them from any future background checks. Expungement is most common in
juveniles, underaged drinking and driving cases, and mistaken identity cases.