Alaska Criminal Records: Sealing and Set-Asides

People often search for “Alaska expungement” after a case ends or a conviction is set aside. Alaska draws a sharp line between changing what appears on the court system’s public website and erasing a record. For most adult convictions, the state does not provide general expungement.

Start by identifying which record you mean

A criminal case can leave information with the court, the Alaska Department of Public Safety, the arresting agency, and private background-check companies. A change to one record does not automatically change the others. Alaska DPS says an arrest or filed charge may still appear on a state criminal-history report even when the charge was declined or dismissed; the report should also show the disposition.

Get the case number and final disposition from the court that handled the case. For a state criminal-history report or correction question, contact the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Records and Identification Bureau. Do not rely on a people-search site to tell you what the court or state repository contains.

When a dismissed or acquitted case leaves CourtView

Alaska Stat. § 22.35.030 bars the Alaska Court System from publishing certain criminal cases on a publicly available website after 60 days have elapsed from an acquittal or dismissal. The covered outcomes include acquittal of all charges, dismissal of all charges outside a plea agreement in another criminal case, or a combination of acquittals and dismissals. This is removal from the court’s public website index; it is not a general order destroying every court, police, state-history, or private-company record.

The Court System says qualifying cases are removed automatically. If a qualifying case still appears on CourtView, Form TF-810 lets a person ask the local trial court to correct the public index. Read the form carefully: it lists the specific statutory and rule-based categories and is not a broad sealing petition. For other requests to seal a currently public case or particular court records, the court directs people to Form TF-800. Removing a name from the index alone uses Form TF-805.

Agency sealing for mistaken identity or false accusation

Alaska Stat. § 12.62.180 addresses a narrower problem: information maintained by a criminal-justice agency that resulted, beyond a reasonable doubt, from mistaken identity or false accusation. The written request goes to the head of the agency responsible for the information. An agency decision is final administratively, though the statute allows an appeal under applicable procedures. DPS provides a Request to Seal Criminal Justice Record form for information in its repository.

This procedure is not a way to remove an accurate arrest or conviction merely because a case ended without conviction. The agency can seal only its own information. Court records have separate rules, so a request to DPS does not by itself change CourtView or a court file.

What a set-aside does—and does not do

Alaska’s suspended imposition of sentence process may allow a conviction to be set aside after successful completion of sentence in some cases. A set-aside changes the disposition, but DPS explains that the conviction remains on the criminal-history record with a “conviction set aside” notation. Separate CourtView rules exclude some completed set-aside cases from the public web index. Neither result should be described as the conviction being erased from every record.

Juvenile matters follow different confidentiality rules and are outside this adult-record overview. Federal convictions and records held by other states also require separate research; Alaska cannot clear another jurisdiction’s records.

Practical next steps

1. Collect the case number, court disposition, and any sentencing or set-aside order.
2. Check the case on CourtView and request the state criminal-history record from Alaska DPS if you need to know what the state repository reports.
3. Match the issue to the right agency: use TF-810 only for a qualifying public-index omission, or ask the record-holding agency about a mistaken-identity or false-accusation request.
4. Keep copies of every request and response. If a private screening company reports inaccurate information, dispute it with that company and identify the source record; a court-index change does not automatically update commercial databases.

Where to find help

The Alaska Court System’s self-help and law-library resources can point to forms and court procedures, but court staff cannot advise whether a particular request will succeed. Alaska Legal Services Corporation accepts applications for free civil legal aid; its published scope does not promise representation for criminal-record relief. Ask whether it can help with the specific record issue or provide a referral. For advice about consequences of a conviction, a set-aside, or a disputed record, speak with an Alaska attorney.

We are not lawyers and do not provide legal advice. This guide is general information, not an eligibility decision or a recommendation to file a particular request.