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Criminal – Criminal History

Question from Online Bar Application:

Are you currently, or have you ever been arrested, charged, cited, accused, or prosecuted for any crime by a law enforcement agency, or have you ever been the subject of any investigation by a law enforcement agency, civil or administrative agency, professional organization, corporation, board or any other agency (including, but not limited to the lawyer Disciplinary Board, Attorney General's Office, government entity, law firm, etc.)? This does NOT include summary (minor) motor vehicle violations for which you were given a citation (ticket). It does include all alcohol-related traffic citations (e.g. OWI, DUI).

Instruction from Online Bar Application:

If you answer "Yes" to this question, you must provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances for each incident. AT A MINIMUM, you must include the time, date, location, law enforcement agency or other entity involved, court and final disposition.

FOR ALL CRIMINAL INCIDENTS: You must disclose each criminal incident where you were arrested, charged, cited, accused or prosecuted for any crime, even if: the charges were dismissed; or you were acquitted or pardoned; or adjudication was withheld; or a conviction was reversed, set aside or vacated; or the record was sealed or expunged; or you entered some type of diversionary program, such as A.R.D. You must disclose each incident, regardless of whether you believe or were told that you need not disclose it. Your failure to disclose a criminal incident, even if an arrest, conviction, or sentence has been legally sealed or expunged from your record, will be considered a character and fitness issue and may result in a denial of your bar application.

FOR MISDEMEANORS OR FELONIES: If you were arrested, cited or charged, even if the charge was later reduced, withdrawn, diverted, dismissed, you were acquitted or pardoned, adjudication was withheld, a conviction was reversed, set aside or vacated, the record was sealed or expunged or you entered some type of diversionary program such as A.R.D., you MUST PROVIDE: 1) a copy of the police report including the Affidavit of Probable Cause; 2) the criminal information or charging document; 3) the disposition; i.e., sentencing order; and 4) the docket entries for each criminal incident in which you were involved.

If you do not have a copy of the police report, you must make a written request to the appropriate law enforcement agency for the copy. If you do not have the criminal information, disposition and docket entries, you must make a request to the appropriate court or clerk of courts. You may also try to obtain these documents from your attorney.

If the law enforcement agency or police department or the court no longer have these documents, please send this office a copy of your written requests for this information and the court and police department's written responses to your requests which say that these documents are no longer available. Please note that the court will generally not have a copy of the police report and the police will not have a copy of the criminal information, disposition and docket entries so you will have to write to both the police department or law enforcement agency and the court to obtain this information. This office will not accept a statement from you stating that you called the court and they said that they did not have your criminal records.

FOR MINOR OFFENSES OR SUMMARY OFFENSES (not misdemeanors and felonies): If you were arrested or cited, provide a copy of the citation or docket showing the disposition. If the summary offense occurred in Pennsylvania and is less than three years old, you may obtain the docket by going to the following website: http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/docketsheets/mdj.aspx. If the citation occurred over three years ago or occurred in another jurisdiction, you must make a written request for a copy of your citation or police report from the police department that issued the citation. If the police department no longer has a copy of the citation or police report or will not release it, please send this office a copy of your written request to the police department and their response.

DEFINITION OF MINOR TRAFFIC VIOLATION: Minor traffic violations are those that do not result in a suspension of license, arrest, incarceration or lawsuit. You do not need to disclose parking tickets, unless your license was suspended as a result of your not paying them. Similarly, you do not need to disclose speeding, unless it resulted in license suspension. Offenses you must disclose include, but are not limited to: DWI, DUI, DWAI, driving while suspended, driving without insurance, leaving the scene of an accident, and failure to report an accident. Charges that carry potential incarceration must be disclosed.

FOR ALCOHOL RELATED OFFENSES: If you were cited, convicted, arrested or received Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD), for an alcohol related offense such as Driving Under the Influence (DUI), you must disclose it. This office does not consider citations for OWI, DUI or similar to be minor motor vehicle violations.

FOR ALCOHOL RELATED OFFENSES IN PENNSYLVANIA: If you were convicted, arrested or received Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD), for an alcohol related offense in Pennsylvania such as Driving Under the Influence (DUI), you must submit your Court Reporting Network (CRN) test scores. CRN test scores can be obtained from the Adult Probation Office in the county where the offense occurred. If you are currently on probation, or have completed probation within the past five years, you must provide a letter from your probation officer detailing the requirements of your probation and your conduct during probation. If your probation has been completed, you must provide a copy of the termination letter.

NOTE: ARD is a pre-trial program whereby your case is diverted from criminal prosecution to probation, subject to various conditions which may include the following: attendance at a drug/alcohol treatment program, payment of a Common Pleas court administrative fee, payment of a municipal corporation administrative fee if your case was instituted by a police department for a borough or township, and court costs. When you satisfactorily complete the program, you are eligible to apply to the court for a dismissal of the charges. Although acceptance into the ARD program does not constitute a conviction, it will be construed as a conviction for purposes of computing your sentence, should you be convicted of a subsequent offense.

FOR OUT-OF-COUNTRY RECORDS, complete the Personal Verification of Criminal History Information form. You are not required to provide criminal histories from foreign countries. Personal Verification of Criminal History Information forms for each application type are available on the Board's web site at this address: http://www.pabarexam.org/forms.htm.