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S 2618Criminal Procedure

Criminal Procedure - Identification and Apprehension of Criminals

This bill allows defendants to request the sealing of specific dismissed criminal charges from their record starting October 1, 2026.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 13, 2026Committee Senate Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends Rhode Island law regarding the identification and apprehension of criminals, specifically focusing on the sealing of court records. It introduces a new provision allowing for the administrative sealing of individual counts within a criminal complaint that are dismissed by the prosecution, provided the dismissal occurs on or after October 1, 2026. Unlike cases where the entire matter is dismissed, sealing these specific counts requires the defendant to make a request to the court clerk after the case concludes. The clerk must then notify the Bureau of Criminal Identification to seal the records within a specified timeframe.

For younger readers

Sometimes when a person gets in trouble with the law, they might be accused of doing several bad things at once. If the court decides that the person didn't actually do one of those specific things, this new law allows the person to ask the court to hide that specific mistake from their permanent record. This helps make sure their record is fair and only shows what they were actually found guilty of doing. This new rule will start in the year 2026.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Criminal DefendantsCourt ClerksBureau of Criminal IdentificationDefense AttorneysEmployers (conducting background checks)
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Promotes social justice by allowing individuals to clear their records of dismissed charges, reducing the stigma and long-term consequences associated with criminal accusations that did not result in a conviction.
  • Enhances economic opportunity for low-income and marginalized communities who are disproportionately policed, by removing barriers to employment and housing caused by visible criminal records.
  • Streamlines the legal process by allowing for administrative sealing by a clerk rather than requiring a complex judicial hearing, making justice more accessible to those without expensive legal representation.
  • Fails to make the sealing automatic for individual counts, unlike full case dismissals, placing the burden of knowledge and action on the defendant to request the sealing.
  • Delays the implementation of this justice reform until October 2026, leaving individuals with dismissed charges vulnerable to record-based discrimination for several more years.
  • Does not address the sealing of older records for individual counts dismissed prior to 2026, limiting the restorative impact for those already suffering from the effects of a cluttered criminal record.
For Conservatives
  • Upholds the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" by ensuring that citizens are not penalized or scrutinized for charges that the state could not or chose not to prosecute.
  • Reduces reliance on the social safety net by removing barriers to employment, encouraging individuals to rejoin the workforce and become self-sufficient taxpayers.
  • Protects individual privacy against government overreach by limiting the public display of data regarding interactions with the state that did not result in a conviction.
  • Obscures the complete history of an individual's interaction with law enforcement, potentially preventing employers and landlords from seeing patterns of behavior that, while not convictions, might be relevant to safety or character.
  • Creates additional bureaucratic and administrative burdens on the court system and the Bureau of Criminal Identification, funded by taxpayers, to process and manage these specific record redactions.
  • Risk to public safety transparency, as sealing records administratively reduces the public's ability to monitor how often prosecutors are dismissing specific charges in plea deals or due to procedural errors.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 9 additions · 1 deletion

SECTION 1. Section 12-1-12.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 12-1 entitled "Identification and Apprehension of Criminals" is hereby amended to read as follows: 12-1-12.1. Sealing of records of persons acquitted or otherwise exonerated by operation of law or by motion.

(a) By operation of law, the court shall automatically seal the records of any criminal case that was dismissed pursuant to the district court rule of criminal procedure 48(a), including all records of the division of criminal identification established by § 12-1-4 without the requirement of filing a motion under the following circumstances:

(1) Cases dismissed pursuant to the district court rule of criminal procedure 48(a) on or after January 1, 2023, shall be automatically sealed not less than ten (10) days and not more than twenty (20) days after the dismissal; or

(2) Cases dismissed pursuant to the district court rule of criminal procedure 48(a) prior to January 1, 2023, shall be sealed administratively by the court clerk at the request of the defendant and any sealing order of the district court entered as a result shall be sent electronically by the clerk of the court to the bureau of criminal identification established by § 12-1-4 within five (5) days of the entry of the order and shall be carried out within ninety (90) days of the receipt of the order; or

(3) Individual counts of a criminal complaint dismissed pursuant to district court rule of criminal procedure 48(a) on or after October 1, 2026, shall be sealed administratively by the court clerk upon the request of the defendant following the conclusion of the matter in the district court. Any sealing order of the district court shall be sent electronically by the clerk of the court to the bureau of criminal identification established by § 12-1-4 within five (5) days of the entry of the order and shall be carried out within ninety (90) days of the receipt of the order.

(b) Any person who is acquitted or otherwise exonerated of all counts in a criminal case, including, but not limited to, dismissals not described in subsection (a) of this section or filing of a no true bill or no information, may file a motion for the sealing of his or her court records in the case.

(1) Any person filing a motion for sealing his or her court records pursuant to this section shall give notice of the hearing date set by the court to the department of the attorney general and the police department that originally brought the charge against the person at least ten (10) days prior to the hearing.

(2) If the court, after the hearing at which all relevant testimony and information shall be considered, finds that the person is entitled to the sealing of the records, it shall order the sealing of the court records of the person in that case.

(3) The clerk of the court shall, within forty-five (45) days of the order of the court granting the motion, place under seal the court records in the case in which the acquittal, dismissal, no true bill, no information, or other exoneration has been entered.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in all cases involving a filing subsequent to a plea of not guilty, guilty, or nolo contendere to a charge of a crime involving domestic violence, the court having jurisdiction over the case shall retain the records of the case for a period of three (3) years from the date of filing. The records shall not be expunged or sealed for a period of three (3) years from the date of the filing.

(d) The defendant shall be advised at the hearing that any and all bail money relating to a case that remains on deposit and is not claimed at the time of sealing shall be escheated to the state’s general treasury in accordance with chapter 12 of title 8.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on October 1, 2026.