John Doe v. Illinois

Illinois, like many states, offers a statutory scheme for the sealing and expungement of criminal records.1 The Illinois scheme protects select classes of persons, including those convicted of certain categories of offenses, by way of a “right to expunge an expungeable offense” and a codified interest: “The effect of an order of expungement shall be to restore the person to the status he or she occupied before the arrest, charge, or conviction.”2 However, under this same scheme, Petitioner, despite meeting the statutory requirements for relief and never having been convicted of a crime, is provided no such statutory right to expungement, and has endured a gauntlet of legal and technical obstacles, as well as stigma and harm resulting from state actions, upon seeking to expunge his arrest records.

1. Does the Illinois scheme for the sealing and expungement of criminal records create, confer, or otherwise entail an interest protected under the Fourteenth Amendment?

2. Can Illinois impose anything more than minimal procedures on a petitioner seeking expungement of criminal records when that petitioner meets the statutory requirements for relief and has been adjudged guilty of no crime? 1 See Illinois Criminal Identification Act (20 ILCS 2630/) § 5.2 2 § 5.2(i)(10), (j)(6). Under P.A. 103-1071, effective July 1, 2025, the text of § 5.2(j)(6) appears in § 5.2(j)(8)