Expungement is a legal process in which an individual who has been arrested for or convicted of a crime seeks that the records of that earlier process be sealed or destroyed, making the records unavailable to the general public. Here are some key points about expungement:

• Expungement is a civil action in which the subject is the petitioner or plaintiff asking a court to declare that the records be expunged.
• The process of expungement varies by jurisdiction, but generally, it is the process to "remove from general review" the records pertaining to a case.
• Expungement does not completely erase the records, and they may still be available to law enforcement, to sentencing judges on subsequent offenses, and to corrections facilities to which the individual may be sentenced on subsequent convictions.
• Expungement orders do not remove records from the press, Google, or social media, for example.
• Expungement orders concern specific matters and specific courts, and nothing more.
• Expungement orders do not privatize criminal activity, and the underlying object of expungement remains public.
• Expungement can be filed under the authority of a states expungement statute, which contains a list of what can be erased through the filing of an expungement petition.

To summarize, expungement is a legal process that allows individuals who have been arrested for or convicted of a crime to have their records sealed or destroyed, making them unavailable to the general public. However, the records may still be available to law enforcement, to sentencing judges on subsequent offenses, and to corrections facilities to which the individual may be sentenced on subsequent convictions. Expungement orders concern specific matters and specific courts, and they do not remove records from the press, Google, or social media.