The list, as the statute writes it
These are the offenses the statute names. This list is generated directly from the checker's own rules, so the two can never disagree.
- Murder
- Manslaughter
- First-degree arson
- Kidnapping with intent to extort
- Robbery
- Larceny from the person
- First-degree sexual assault
- Second-degree sexual assault
- First-degree child molestation
- Second-degree child molestation
- Assault with intent to murder
- Assault with intent to rob
- Assault with intent to commit first-degree sexual assault
- Burglary
- Entering a dwelling house with intent to commit murder, robbery, sexual assault, or larceny
If your conviction is not on this list, the crime-of-violence bar does not apply to you.
Crimes of violence in Rhode Island: a closed list
The list is closed and specific. A charge that sounds violent is not necessarily on it, and a charge that does not sound violent may be. Burglary, for instance, is a crime of violence for expungement, while several common assault offenses are not named at all.
Since June 2026 there is also a second list — "other prohibited offenses" — which is not the same thing. A conviction on it closes the multiple-felony path, and on the multiple-misdemeanor path a felony that is on it closes that path too. Being clear of one list does not mean you are clear of the other. The multiple-felony page sets out what is on it.
If your offense is on neither list, this bar does not apply to you, whatever anyone has told you.
If you are not sure how your offense was actually classified, that is worth an hour of a lawyer's time before you accept that nothing can be done. Misclassification blocks petitions that should succeed.
Where the crime-of-violence bar applies
On the first-offender path, the law says "no person who has been convicted of a crime of violence shall have his or her records and records of conviction expunged."
The same bar applies to deferred sentences: "no person who has been convicted of a crime of violence shall have their records relating to a deferred sentence expunged."
Where it does not apply: marijuana and sealing
Marijuana expungement is the notable exception. That law grants relief "notwithstanding the existence of" prior arrests, convictions or civil adjudications, "including convictions for crimes of violence." A crime of violence in your past does not block a cannabis expungement.
Sealing is also different. If the case you want cleared was dismissed or ended in a not-guilty verdict, the expungement law and its violence bar are not what govern it.
If you are barred: a pardon
A pardon remains available. It is granted by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.
It is rare, and it is a different process with a different audience, but it is real and the expungement law does not foreclose it.
The law behind this page
- The crimes-of-violence list: R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-1.3-1(1).
- Other prohibited offenses: § 12-1.3-1(6).
- The bar on the first-offender path: § 12-1.3-2(a).
- The bar on deferred sentences: § 12-1.3-3(b)(1)(ii).
- Marijuana expungement despite a crime of violence: § 12-1.3-5(g).
- Sealing: § 12-1-12.1.
- Assault with a dangerous weapon in a dwelling house: § 11-5-4.
- The 2024 amendment that added only hyphens: P.L. 2024, ch. 386.
- Pardons: R.I. Const. art. IX, § 13.
