The Texas Conviction Database is a publicly available database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety (the “Department” or the “DPS”). The Conviction Database consists of public information extracted from the DPS Computerized Criminal History System. The Conviction Database contains records of “convictions” and “deferred adjudications” for Class B misdemeanor or greater offenses committed in Texas that have been reported to the DPS. But, in the past, the Conviction Database has been found to also, in some instances, contain “convictions” or “deferred adjudication” records for Class C misdemeanor offenses, if information on the offense has been reported to the Department.

It is important for Texas residents or individuals arrested in Texas to understand that “convictions” or “deferred adjudications” are considered public information under Texas law. Individuals or commercial background check companies can purchase the entire Conviction Database from the DPS. For job applicants, this means that their potential employer can search the Conviction Database to find their “convictions” and “deferred adjudications” records. Similarly, your “conviction” or “deferred adjudication” records may also appear if your potential employer hires a commercial background check company to run a pre-employment background check.

To have a “conviction” removed from the Conviction Database, the criminal court must have issued an order “setting aside the conviction” when you were discharged from probation. If “judicial clemency” was granted or the judge “set aside” the “conviction,” you can have the records removed from the Conviction Database. To remove “deferred adjudication” records from the Conviction Database, you will need to file a petition for an order of nondisclosure. Once an order of nondisclosure has been issued, the court clerk will send a copy of the order of nondisclosure to the DPS and your “deferred adjudication” records will no longer be available in the Conviction Database.

Lastly, we would like to caution you again that the Conviction Database only contains records of “convictions” and “deferred adjudications” for cases that have been properly reported by court clerks to the DPS. In fact, the DPS maintains a more complete version of the Computerized Criminal History System that has records for all Texas arrests that have been reported to the DPS. To remove records from this non-public database, an individual must be eligible to expunge the arrest records under Texas law.

If you have questions or would like to find out more about “sealing” your criminal records or removing your records from the Texas Conviction Database, give us a telephone call at 214.620.0510