Does a DUI in Oregon stay on my criminal record?

A "Driving Under the Influence" (DUI) charge in the state of Oregon is a serious charge that can impact your life long after you have paid your fines and spent any time required behind bars. The future repercussions include being denied employment or being allowed to attend school.

An additional reason why this charge can be so devastating is that an Oregon DUI conviction remains forever on your record.  It isn't dropped after a period of time and on top of that Oregon state law doesn't permit DUI convictions to be expunged. Once you have a DUI record it is permanently part of your record.

There are states that will remove an arrest without a conviction from your record; however, Oregon won't allow this to take place when it comes to traffic offenses. That means even if a person is not convicted, the arrest itself will remain on his/her record. Fortunately the negative effects of arrests are not the same as those for convictions, and in this case no negative consequences to a person's life should follow.

In Oregon, there are certain DUI offenders who are allowed to enter a "diversion" program. When this course is completed correctly, the DUI charge can be dismissed. As mentioned above, the arrest remains on the person's record, but the conviction will not be entered. However, as of 2009, a bill was considered that would allow expunging the records of those whose charges were dismissed or the prosecutor decided against pursuing; but dismissals based on diversion would become exempt under this law.