The Indiana Second Chance Law
The Indiana General Assembly passed the Second Chance Law in 2013. Codified at IC 35-38-9, the statute creates an expungement framework that is unusually robust by national standards — especially for a state without a legal cannabis market.
Key features:
- Mandatory grant on eligible petitions — for most categories, if the petitioner meets the eligibility criteria, the court must grant the expungement. This is unusual; most state expungement statutes are discretionary.
- Sealing rather than destruction — expunged records are sealed from public view but retained by criminal-justice agencies and accessible for limited purposes (subsequent prosecution, federal background checks).
- Multiple levels — calibrated to the severity of the offense, with longer waits and more judicial discretion for higher-felony classes.
- One-time-only for most categories — you generally cannot expunge a second time after a successful petition.
Eligibility for Cannabis Convictions
Misdemeanor cannabis — IC 35-38-9-2
- Wait period: 5 years from the date of conviction.
- Conditions: All sentences (jail, probation, fines) completed; no convictions in the prior 5 years; no pending charges; no convictions for sex/violent offenses; not currently a suspended/revoked driver if the offense was DUI-related.
- Court’s authority: "shall expunge" if eligibility met — mandatory.
- Effect: the conviction is treated as if it never occurred for most purposes (employment applications, housing applications, professional licensing). Limited carve-outs exist.
Most Indiana cannabis convictions — small possession (any amount triggers a Class B misdemeanor under IC 35-48-4-11) and paraphernalia (Class C misdemeanor under IC 35-48-4-8.3) — fall into this category.
Class D / Level 6 felony — IC 35-38-9-3
- Wait period: 8 years from the date of conviction.
- Conditions: Same general conditions as misdemeanors plus tighter scrutiny.
- Court’s authority: "shall expunge" if eligibility met — mandatory.
- Cannabis examples: Possession with prior conviction (IC 35-48-4-11(b)), some dealing offenses, hashish over 5g.
Class C / Level 5 felony — IC 35-38-9-4
- Wait period: 8 years from the date of conviction (or 3 years from completion of sentence, whichever is later).
- Court’s authority: "may expunge" — discretionary. The prosecutor can object.
- Cannabis examples: Dealing 30g–10 lb of marijuana (IC 35-48-4-10), enhanced dealing offenses.
Higher felonies — IC 35-38-9-5
- Wait period: 8 years (or 5 years post-sentence, whichever is later).
- Court’s authority: "may expunge" — discretionary, with prosecutor consent often required.
- Cannabis examples: Dealing 10 lb+ (Level 5/4 felony), enhanced trafficking with school-zone or firearm enhancements.
The Petition Process
- Pull your record. Indiana State Police limited criminal history check ($15) or FBI fingerprint check ($18) shows what your record actually contains.
- Verify eligibility. Match each conviction to the applicable IC 35-38-9 section. The Indiana Public Defender Council and Indiana Legal Services have eligibility guides.
- Prepare the petition. File in the county of conviction. The court has a standard form. Specific factual recitations required: charge code, conviction date, sentence terms, completion date.
- Serve the prosecutor. The county prosecutor must be served and has the right to respond (and to object on discretionary categories).
- Pay filing fee. Generally $156 in most counties (court costs + filing fee). Fee waiver available on hardship showing.
- Court ruling. Mandatory categories should be granted on the papers. Discretionary categories may require a hearing.
- Notification. If granted, the court orders agencies (state police, BMV, FBI) to seal the record.
What Expungement Actually Does
For most purposes, an expunged Indiana cannabis conviction:
- Does not appear on standard background checks — including most pre-employment screening, housing applications, and professional licensing.
- Need not be disclosed on most employment applications. The Second Chance Law explicitly provides that expunged convictions are not "convictions" for many disclosure purposes.
- Does not bar firearm rights — if the underlying offense did not, expungement preserves the status quo.
- Restores civil rights — voting, jury service, holding office (most Indiana civil rights are not lost for misdemeanors anyway, but expungement formalizes it).
What Expungement Does NOT Do
- Federal background checks — FBI background checks may still surface the conviction. Expungement is a state-court order; federal databases are not bound by it. Practical effect varies by purpose.
- Immigration — federal immigration law generally does not recognize state expungement. A non-citizen with an Indiana cannabis conviction faces the same immigration consequences after expungement as before. Critical: consult an immigration attorney before petitioning.
- Subsequent prosecution — sealed records are still accessible for sentencing enhancement in later cases.
- Some licensing categories — certain professional licenses (law enforcement, some healthcare) ask about all arrests/convictions regardless of expungement.
Indiana Cannabis Pardon — Separate Pathway
Independent of expungement, the Indiana Governor can issue executive pardons. The Indiana Parole Board accepts pardon applications and forwards recommendations. Pardons are discretionary, uncommon, and slow (typically 12–24 months processing). Indiana governors have not used pardon power for cannabis-conviction relief at the scale that some legal-state governors have.
For most cannabis convictions, expungement under the Second Chance Law is the more practical relief route. The pardon pathway is mainly relevant for convictions that fall outside Second Chance Law eligibility or where additional rehabilitative findings are sought.
Bottom Line
Indiana cannabis expungement under the Second Chance Law is a meaningful relief that — for most misdemeanor and low-felony cannabis convictions — is mandatory if eligibility is met. The 5-year (misdemeanor) and 8-year (Level 6 felony) waits are reasonable by national standards. The petition process is procedurally specific but navigable, especially with attorney help (Indiana Legal Services, Indiana Public Defender Council, county legal-aid programs offer support).
For state-by-state expungement comparison, see CannabisExpungement.org. For Indiana possession penalty context that creates these conviction records in the first place, see Possession Penalties.