During the summer, high school and college students from around the country converge at the New Jersey Shore. With this convergence comes numerous party-related arrests and convictions for possession of marijuana and other drugs, underage drinking, disorderly conduct, simple assault and other charges.
Over the summer, thousands of high school seniors will apply to colleges around the country, and many recent graduates and current college students will compete for jobs and internships. Many parents are reporting concern over issues relating to an applicant’s criminal history. This concern is consistent with the near-universal use of background checks among prospective employers, who are applying a rigorous standard of ethics and demanding that their employees have a clean background.
Colleges that sponsor work-study programs and internships increasingly require that their students undergo background screening before they will place them in an internship program. Those college juniors who compete for great summer jobs are finding that employers in all sectors and industries are requiring background checks. For students contemplating internships or employment in the criminal justice system, such as the courts or prosecutor’s offices, or employment on Wall Street, a complete background check will be required. In fact, a former college student client recently reported having to submit to an intensive background check for a summer job in the mutual fund division of a large investment bank, as did a current student applying for an internship with a pharmaceutical company.
In our highly competitive society, students are expected to optimize their employment prospects through work and internships. These early opportunities can propel a student to far greater career advancement.
The existence of Municipal Court or Superior Court charges on an applicant’s background check – even if the charges have been dismissed – can have a highly negative impact on a student’s job or internship prospects. The reasons for seeking the expungement of records are growing as quickly as the jobs and internships that are requiring background checks and clean records.
Expungement is accomplished by filing a petition in the Superior Court-Law Division. Schwartz & Posnock has successfully petitioned for the expungement of criminal records in New Jersey since 1993. We have obtained the expungement of criminal and disorderly persons records in virtually every case we have handled. The vast majority of our expungement cases do not require the petitioner’s appearance in court.