South Hills Criminal Defense Lawyer
Expunging Summary Offenses
A criminal record may hurt your educational and employment opportunities, especially if you’re seeking jobs that require a criminal background check. Expungement refers to the removal of an arrest or conviction from your permanent criminal record.
Under Pennsylvania law, a conviction for a summary offense may be expunged after five years. If you were convicted of a summary offense more than five years ago, it may be possible to remove the conviction from your criminal record so that you can move on with your life.
At Spivak Law Firm, we routinely represent people charged with summary offenses and get their criminal records erased. To schedule a free consultation, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Erase Your Criminal Record
If you want to clean your criminal record for an upcoming employment, education, or housing opportunity, you should begin the process as soon as possible.
Spivak Law Firm routinely helps people erase their criminal records through a formal expungement process. What surprises many clients is how long the expungement process takes: about a year from start to finish.
At Spivak Law Firm, we move your case forward as quickly as possible to avoid unnecessary delay, and we update you at each step along the way.
Spivak Law Firm expunges criminal records for a low, one-time fee. For more information, call us at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Expunging Your Criminal Record
In the United States, only those who are convicted of the most serious crimes get life sentences. But everyone who enters the criminal justice system can be marked for life.
Even a minor interaction with the justice system can leave someone with a criminal record and a permanent barrier to a job, education or an occupational license.
Having a record can also affect housing, as federal housing law grants local authorities wide discretion, and many use it to keep people with a single arrest out of public housing.
At Spivak Law Firm, we aim to clear the arrests from your criminal record so you can move on with your life. For more information, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
New Pennsylvania Record-Sealing Law
Pennsylvania recently passed a law that seals minor criminal records. Supporters of the legislation hope it will reduce recidivism and open doors for those who have turned their lives around.
Under the legislation, people with sealed records would not have to disclose their criminal histories. Removing this barrier allows more Pennsylvanians to live without the stigma of a criminal record.
The new law, which applies in limited cases, for the first time allows Pennsylvanians to seal convictions for misdemeanor-level offenses.
At Spivak Law Firm, we aim to clear the arrests from your criminal record so you can move on with your life. For more information, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Expungements in Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, your criminal record may be expunged if you meet certain criteria. An expungement can help you avoid the stigma associated with having a criminal record.
A criminal record can hurt your future by:
- Costing you a job opportunity;
- Denying you a bank or government loan
- Disqualifying you from receiving a professional license; and
- Restricting your ability to join certain organizations
At Spivak Law Firm, we aim to erase your criminal record so you can move on with your life. For more information, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Costs of a Criminal Record
While less serious than a felony charge, misdemeanors and summary offenses carry stigmas strong enough to cause problems beyond fines and inconvenience. If uncovered, they can cause potential school and job recruiters to look in other directions.
Programs across the country have been initiated to give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to dodge that bullet. In Chicago, for instance, a program provides qualified offenders the opportunity to keep a charge from being permanently entered on their record and to avoid the accompanying stigma.
In Pennsylvania, people may be eligible to have their criminal records expunged or sealed.
At Spivak Law Firm, we aim to clear the arrests from your criminal record so you can move on with your life. For more information, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Criminal Records and Employers
When applying for a job, you are required to inform your employer of any misdemeanor of felony convictions. But you don’t have to disclose convictions for summary offenses. And you don’t have to tell your employer about criminal charges against you that were withdrawn or dismissed.
If you weren’t convicted, you may think that you have nothing to worry about. But employers can access your criminal record simply by using your name and date of birth. Even withdrawn or dismissed charges have the potential to negatively affect employment opportunities. Employers will likely wonder why the police brought charges against you in the first place.
If you were charged with a crime, and the charges against you were later withdrawn or dismissed, we can help you erase the incidents from your criminal record.
At Spivak Law Firm, we expunge criminal records for a low, one-time fee. For more information, call us at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Spivak Law Firm Frees Inmate
Thanks to Spivak Law Firm, Doug (not his real name) is a free man again.
Doug violated his probation and ended up back in Allegheny County Jail for a domestic dispute. We negotiated an agreement to dismiss the charges upon completion of anger-management counseling.
But that would take six months.
And Doug’s probation violation hearing would not even be scheduled until he completed the counseling. That means he would likely sit in jail for at least eight months until a judge would even consider his release.
Spivak Law Firm petitioned the judge to lift Doug’s detainer. At the hearing, we persuaded the judge to lift the detainer so Doug could go back to work and help raise his infant child.
Instead of waiting eight months, Doug was back at his job and seeing his baby after just three weeks.
“Thank you for helping me get a second chance,” Doug told us after his release.
Spivak Law Firm handles all criminal matters including: felony, misdemeanor and summary charges, probation violations, and criminal-record expungements. Call us today at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
PFA: A Sword Or A Shield?
A Protection From Abuse (PFA) Order should be used as a shield not a sword.
It is commonly known that many people who seek the protections of a PFA are abusing the court system itself by seeking to gain leverage in child custody and divorce.
They may lie about abuse or greatly exaggerate the level of conflict.
After all, filing a PFA immediately evicts the “abuser” from the home. So if you want your spouse out of the house, a PFA is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to do it.
And if you want primary custody of your children, a PFA is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to get it.
But judges in Allegheny County and throughout Western Pennsylvania have zero tolerance for people who obtain PFA Orders to gain such advantages.
A PFA is meant to serve as a shield offering protections for people who have been physically or sexually abused.
A PFA should not be used as a sword to inflict pain or otherwise gain advantages in family court.
Based in Pittsburgh, Spivak Law Firm provides aggressive representation in PFA hearings. Call us at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Governor Stops Death Penalty In Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Wolf last month announced a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania.
Although the state has not executed a prisoner since 1999, there are currently 186 death-row inmates in Pennsylvania, including nine from the Pittsburgh area. Terrance Williams, who was convicted of murder and scheduled for execution by lethal injection this week, has been issued a reprieve.
Associations of Pennsylvania district attorneys and state troopers criticized the move, which Gov. Wolf says was necessary to review the “fundamental fairness” of capital punishment administered by the state. Specifically, the governor cited death-row inmates later exonerated and disproportionate sentencing of African Americans as evidence that the system is flawed.
Pennsylvania may eventually join 18 other states that have ended the death penalty.
Spivak Law Firm provides strong, aggressive defense in all criminal matters. Charged with a crime? Call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.