You can call the local court where the case happened to request the official court document stating the disposition of your criminal case, if you don’t already have it.
Some common “dispositions” of a criminal case include:
- Convicted: means you have plead or been found guilty by a court of law.
- Acquitted: means you have been found not guilty by a court of law in a criminal trial.
- Dismissed: means the court or prosecutor has decided the charge against you should not go forward, terminating the case.
- No charges filed/Charges dropped: means the prosecutor has declined to pursue the case.
- Vacated: means the court has withdrawn the guilty plea or set aside the guilty verdict, and for all purposes you may state you have never been convicted of that crime.
- Sealed: means the court has restricted access to all or some of the content of the record; however, the existence of the record will still be public record. For juveniles (but NOT adults), the sealed crime is, generally, treated as if it never occurred, unless it has been subsequently unsealed.
- Expunged: means the deletion of non-conviction information (such as arrest data).
- Pending: means the case is still being investigated or prosecuted.
- Diversion/Deferred Prosecution: means the court has delayed prosecution pending the successful completion of a treatment program, at which point the charges will be dismissed. Until charges are dismissed, this will be treated as pending.
- Suspended sentence: means the court has delayed the sentencing for an offense pending the successful completion of a period of probation and/or successful completion of a treatment program. If the defendant does not break the law during that period, and fulfills the particular conditions of the probation, the judge usually reduces the degree of the offense or may dismiss the case entirely. Until the sentence is reduced or dismissed, this will be treated as pending.