Your Right to Seal Your Record Versus the Public’s Right to Know
In the case of S.L.P. versus the State of Florida, an individual (with the initials “S.L.P.”) asked a judge to seal her criminal record. The judge denied her request on the ground that the public’s interest in having access to S.L.P.’s criminal-history record outweighed S.L.P.’s interest in sealing her record.
S.L.P. appealed the judge’s decision to Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal and won!
The appellate court stated:
1. A judge may deny someone’s request to seal her record if there is a good reason to do so based upon the facts and circumstances of that particular case.
2. However, a judge’s discretion to deny such a request is not without limits.
3. The public’s interest in having access to someone’s criminal-history record is not, by itself, a sufficient reason to deny an individual’s request to seal her record.
4. The lower-court judge was ordered to seal S.L.P.’s record.
