TL;DR

According to Richard S. Sterger, founding attorney of Sterger Law Group, a drug charge typically will not affect college admissions because the FAFSA, the Common App, and the UC and Cal State systems do not ask about it. Juvenile cases are sealed once probation ends. The greater risk is for young people charged at 18 or older, because employers often pull from private databases that may still show a conviction after an expungement or dismissal, and on license applications the most common problem he sees is failing to disclose.

• A drug conviction is no longer a question on the FAFSA or the Common App, and the UC and Cal State systems do not require applicants to disclose it.
• Once a juvenile is off probation, a misdemeanor drug charge is sealed. If a case needs a petition to be sealed, one can be filed.
• Students already in college face a code of conduct that often requires disclosure of a criminal conviction.
• For anyone over 18, employers often rely on private databases that are not always updated, so a conviction can appear even after an expungement or dismissal.
• On professional license applications, the number one problem Sterger sees is failure to disclose, including answering only about convictions when the question asks about arrests.
• Pre-plea diversion that avoids a conviction is a better outcome than expunging a case later. Immigration consequences also matter for juveniles and lawful permanent residents.

Does a drug charge affect college admissions in California?

Richard S. Sterger: Typically, a drug conviction is not going to affect college admissions because it's not going to be asked. It's no longer a question on the FAFSA, which is the financial student aid questionnaire. It's not a question that's answered on the Common App. And there's nothing in the UC system or the Cal State system that requires you to disclose those convictions. When you're talking about a juvenile who is not in school, the case is going to be sealed well before there's anything that they have to disclose.

It becomes a little more complicated when you're talking about a student that's already in college. Now it's not so much that the admissions process is involved, but you are going to have a code of conduct that you're going to have to comply with. And oftentimes that would mean the disclosure of being, maybe not arrested, but convicted of a crime.

Will a juvenile drug charge show up on job applications?

Richard S. Sterger: Going back to the juvenile situation, that's going to be sealed.

Coming out of delinquency, when they're off probation, a misdemeanor drug charge is going to be sealed, even if it fell into a category somehow that required us to file a petition to have it sealed.

We can file a petition and have it sealed.

What if the drug charge happens at 18, after college acceptance?

Richard S. Sterger: That's not going to trickle through. Now, if we're talking about that 18 to 21 year old, a lot of these things actually happen at that 18-year-old mark, because many kids are 18 in their senior year. And not surprisingly, a lot of this stuff happens after college acceptance, not before college acceptance. It leaves you in this tricky area because you might be heading into the dorms, and do you have a responsibility to disclose this? That may be on your dorm application, something that wasn't in the application, or you may have caught the charge subsequent to being admitted.

You have this tricky middle ground that you have to navigate that has more to do with how you responsibly disclose this information and what information you are required to disclose to them.

That's outside of the criminal context.

Can a drug charge appear on background checks and license applications?

Richard S. Sterger: It may show up for your employment, and it may show up for your employment for a reason. If you're over 18, there's a strong likelihood that an employer may pick up something. That's because they're not all just going to the superior court and looking at whatever shows up there, which may show a dismissed charge because you went through diversion. They're pulling from databases that are being compiled by private companies. And these private companies are pulling them at different stages.

And they're not always updating them. Even if your case was charged and then later you got an expungement, and it operates as a dismissal, and you're 100% allowed under California law to say you weren't convicted of a crime because you weren't at that point, they may find it from a database from their private provider that has not been updated, that just shows the conviction. It doesn't show the expungement or the subsequent dismissal.

It's a little trickier if you're over 18. It may well show up on things. This is where I think it's probably most important: in the licensure context, you will work through that. If you're seeking a license to become a lawyer, a doctor, an accountant, a real estate agent, a teacher, there's a process that you will be able to walk through, and you will ultimately come out of that successfully. The number one problem that I see people get into is that they failed to disclose. Or it may ask for something like, have you ever been arrested? And you're answering the question that you never were convicted, but you were actually arrested, and the arrest shows up. So it's the candor. Most of these places are going to accept that your thing was expunged and it cannot be used against you from a licensure perspective.

Employers, a lot of them are ultimately going to understand that they can't base it on something you weren't convicted of.

The hard thing, and why you catch me stumbling a little, is this data is collected in so many places. It's not a file that the government is keeping and either giving people access to or not giving people access to.

It's out in the ether, and it exists in private databases. What is public information at one point in time stays public information almost forever.

And then it really just depends on when that employer is touching it and which version of that file they're touching.

How can a lawyer help with employers and licensing boards?

Richard S. Sterger: Particularly in the licensure phase, I've drafted letters to help clear up situations for people. We've provided the background files, as we can document them.

It's either an employer or, more often, a licensing agency, and we can verify exactly what went down. We're a great resource for them to do the legwork. If they need to pull their file, we can explain to them what's going on and what they need to get.

We oftentimes review the letters from the licensing boards. This goes back to how critically important it is that we pull the proper levers, so that if there's an opportunity to divert a case to where it stays in the court and never results in a conviction, we're in a lot better situation than when we're expunging a case. Oftentimes, the job is really about: I don't want there to be any trace of a conviction. Avoiding the conviction by doing a pre-plea diversion is always going to be a better outcome. There's another thing that pops in here for me, and it's not specific to juvenile. There are also people who have immigration statuses, and they could be juveniles. They could be here as a lawful permanent resident, and these charges could impact them. The immigration consequences are another thing that we're thinking about even when we're dealing with young adults or juveniles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do college applications ask about drug convictions in California?

Richard S. Sterger says a drug conviction is no longer a question on the FAFSA and is not asked on the Common App. Nothing in the UC or Cal State systems requires applicants to disclose those convictions.

Will my teen's juvenile drug case be sealed?

According to Sterger, once a juvenile is off probation, a misdemeanor drug charge is sealed. If the case falls into a category that requires a petition to seal it, the firm can file that petition.

Why might an expunged drug charge still appear on a background check?

Many employers pull records from private companies that compile data at different stages and do not always update it. As a result, a report may show a conviction without showing the later expungement or dismissal, even though California law allows the person to say they were not convicted.

What is the biggest mistake on professional license applications?

Sterger says the number one problem is failing to disclose. Some applications ask whether you have ever been arrested, and answering only that you were never convicted can create a problem if the arrest shows up.

Can a drug charge affect a teen who is a lawful permanent resident?

Sterger notes that juveniles and young adults may have immigration statuses, including lawful permanent residence, and that these charges could impact them. Immigration consequences are something the firm considers even in juvenile and young-adult cases.

Edited for length and clarity from a recorded conversation with Richard S. Sterger.