Expunging a prostitution record in Rhode Island
If you were convicted, placed on probation, or had your case filed for one of the two offenses this law names (listed at the bottom of this page), your records "may be expunged one year after completion of that person's sentence."
You file the motion under the general expungement law, and it "may be granted in the court's discretion regardless of the person's first offender status." The general law supplies the procedure — the motion, the notice, the hearing. The waiting period is the one year this law sets.
One exception: if the offense has since been decriminalized, the decriminalized-offense path applies instead, and it has no waiting period at all.
Either way, every fine, fee and cost on the case has to be paid before the court will grant the motion.
Why your prior record does not close this path
Most expungement paths in Rhode Island turn on your record. The first-offender path requires that you have no prior conviction or probation at all. The multiple-misdemeanor path requires fewer than six misdemeanors and no felony that is a crime of violence or other prohibited offense.
This law sets first-offender status aside. A prior record that would close the first-offender path does not close this one — the law says so in terms.
It covers probation and filings too
This law is not limited to convictions. It covers a person "convicted, placed on probation, or whose case was filed" for the named offenses, which is broader than most expungement laws.
If the offense happened because you were trafficked
There is a stronger remedy. If you were convicted of prostitution or solicitation committed as a direct result of being a trafficking victim, you can move to vacate the conviction — not merely seal or expunge it — with no waiting period at all.
The law behind this page
- Expungement one year after completion of the sentence, for a person convicted, placed on probation, or whose case was filed under § 12-10-12, for a violation of § 11-34.1-2 or § 11-34.1-4: R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-34.1-5(a).
- The motion filed under chapter 12-1.3 and granted in the court's discretion regardless of first-offender status: § 11-34.1-5(b).
- The decriminalized-offense path, with no waiting period: § 12-1.3-2(i).
- Vacating a conviction that resulted from being trafficked: § 11-67.1-17.
