Defendant filed a petition for the expungement of all records relating to her arrest and conviction for third-degree endangering the welfare of a child for causing the child harm that would make the child an abused or neglected child, N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4(a)(2). She contended that the 2016 amendments to the expungement statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2(b), permitted the expungement of non-sexual Title 9 crimes.
Although the intent behind the amended N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2(b) strongly favors expungement for rehabilitated offenders, the statute includes a list of numerous crimes that are barred from expungement. The crime to which defendant pleaded guilty is included on that list. Therefore, the court found the plain language of the statute prohibited the expungement of any conviction under N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4(a).
