Youthful drug offenders in New Jersey may be able to obtain an expungement of arrest or conviction record within one year after the arrest, if it did not result in a conviction or if a conviction occurred within one year from the date of the completion of the sentence, including probationary terms and the payment of all the fines.  Otherwise, the wait to obtain an expungement may be as long as seven years. 

Expungement for youthful offenders within this one year term is applicable to possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of paraphernalia, distribution or possession with the intent to distribute 25 grams of marijuana or less and distribution or possession with the intent to distribute 5 grams of hash or less. 

An expedited expungement process for a youthful drug offender is not available if: (a) the youthful offender has violated the terms of probation or parole, subject of the conviction; (b) there is a subsequent conviction of a crime; (c) there has been a prior admission into a supervisory or diversionary program (PTI); (d) there is pending litigation against the government with respect to the event subject of the crime involved with the expungement; (e) there are other pending criminal charges; and (f) the court determines that the need to maintain the public nature of the records exceed the need for expungement.