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Sealing Felony Records in Arkansas (Part 2 of 2)

Cody Bassham
3 hours ago
5 min read

This is Part 2 of our two-part series on sealing criminal records in Arkansas. Part 1 covers misdemeanors, arrests, and dismissed charges: Part 1 — Misdemeanors.

A felony conviction follows you harder and longer than anything else on a record — jobs, housing, professional licenses, volunteering at your kid's school. What most Arkansans don't know is that the law on sealing felonies has been rewritten in their favor over the past few years. If you were told years ago that you didn't qualify or had to wait, it is worth looking again.

Arkansas felony sealing runs through the Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act of 2013 (Act 1460 of 2013), Ark. Code Ann. §§ 16-90-1401 through 16-90-1419. Sealing is not automatic — you must file a uniform petition and a judge must grant it. Under § 16-90-1404, a sealed record is removed from public access and treated as confidential; it disappears from the background checks employers and landlords run, though courts and law enforcement retain limited access.

Which felonies can be sealed — and when

Under the current version of § 16-90-1406, you can petition to seal a felony immediately after completing your sentence — the old five-year waiting period was eliminated for most eligible felonies — if the conviction was for:

  • a nonviolent Class C or Class D felony;

  • most unclassified felonies (felony DWI/BWI must wait out the lookback periods in § 5-65-111);

  • a Class A or Class B drug felony under the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, § 5-64-101 et seq.;

  • solicitation, attempt, or conspiracy to commit any of the above; or

  • a nonviolent felony committed before age 18.

A violent Class C or Class D felony can also be sealed, but only after a five-year waiting period following completion of the sentence.

Two conditions apply across the board:

  • No more than one prior felony conviction. Felonies committed as part of the same criminal episode count as a single conviction — but a previously sealed felony still counts against you.

  • The conviction cannot appear on the ineligible list in § 16-90-1408.

"Completion of sentence" means everything: imprisonment, probation or suspended sentence, parole, and full payment of fines, court costs, and restitution.

Felonies that can never be sealed

Under § 16-90-1408, the following are permanently ineligible:

  1. Any Class Y, Class A, or Class B felony (except the drug-offense exception above)

  2. Manslaughter, § 5-10-104

  3. An unclassified felony carrying more than 10 years maximum imprisonment

  4. Any felony sex offense

  5. A felony involving violence as defined in § 5-4-501(d)(2) — murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, first-degree battery, and the other enumerated violent felonies

  6. A felony traffic offense committed while holding a CDL or commercial learner's permit

How the felony sealing process works

Sealing runs on a uniform petition created by the Arkansas Crime Information Center under § 16-90-1414, filed under the procedure in § 16-90-1413:

  1. File the uniform petition in the court where you were convicted. There is no filing fee — § 16-90-1419 prohibits clerks from charging one.

  2. Serve the prosecutor (and the arresting agency, if a named party) within three days of filing. The prosecutor may file a notice of opposition — 30 days is the deadline to work from.

  3. Expect a hearing. Under § 16-90-1413(b)(3)(C), the court may grant a felony petition only after a hearing has been conducted — so unlike misdemeanors, plan on one even when the prosecutor does not object.

  4. The judge decides under § 16-90-1415. Felony sealing is discretionary — the court weighs the circumstances, which makes how the petition and hearing are presented matter.

  5. The uniform order issues. The clerk certifies copies to the prosecutor, the arresting agency, the Arkansas Crime Information Center, and any district court involved, and each agency sequesters its records.

If the petition is denied, you must generally wait one year before refiling on the same record, and either side can appeal — so it pays to get the eligibility analysis right the first time.

What a sealed felony does — and doesn't do — for you

Under § 16-90-1417, once the uniform order is entered the conduct is deemed as a matter of law never to have occurred, and you may legally state that it did not occur and that no record exists.

The limits, so no one is surprised later:

  • Certain entities retain access under § 16-90-1416 — you and your attorney, criminal justice agencies, courts and prosecutors in later proceedings, the Arkansas Crime Information Center, and law enforcement licensing bodies, among others.

  • The conviction can still be used in future criminal cases — as a prior offense for habitual-offender sentencing or for impeachment — under § 16-90-1417(a).

  • Firearm rights are not restored by sealing a felony. That takes a governor's pardon or an Act 346 first-offender dismissal.

  • Federal agencies and immigration authorities follow federal law, not Arkansas's sealing statute.

Other routes for a felony record

  • First Offender Act (Act 346 of 1975). If you were sentenced as a first offender under §§ 16-93-301 through 16-93-303, completing probation results in dismissal and sealing — and an Act 346 dismissal restores firearm rights. This has to be elected at sentencing, which is one more reason to have counsel before you plead.

  • Pre-2014 felonies under the Community Punishment Act. Felonies sentenced under Act 531 of 1993 follow that Act's own sealing provision, § 16-93-1207.

  • Drug court and specialty court graduates may be entitled to dismissal and sealing under § 16-98-303(g).

  • Pardoned offenses can be sealed under § 16-90-1411, with limited exceptions.

The law keeps moving — mostly in your favor

  • Act 680 of 2019 removed the five-year waiting period for nonviolent felonies, so most eligible felonies can now be sealed as soon as the sentence is complete.

  • Act 341 of 2021 opened sealing to people who served prison time (the old Department of Correction disqualification is gone), and made the Act apply regardless of when the felony occurred — pre-2014 convictions included.

  • Act 117 of 2023 went the other direction on one point: a felony DWI/BWI conviction now cannot be sealed until the § 5-65-111 lookback period has run, and the one-year wait to refile after a denial was written into § 16-90-1413.

Think your felony might qualify?

The hardest part of felony sealing isn't the paperwork — it's the eligibility analysis. Whether an offense counts as "violent" under § 5-4-501, how same-episode convictions stack, and which statute governs an older sentence are exactly the questions that get petitions denied when they're filed wrong.

Bassham Law Firm PLLC handles felony record sealing petitions across central Arkansas from our office in Conway. Call 501-459-9500 or reach us through basshamlaw.com for an eligibility review — bring whatever paperwork you have, and we can pull your record if you don't.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Statutes cited are current as of November 2026; eligibility depends on the specific facts of your case.

Statutes cited

 
 
 

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