Who cannot get a Certificate of Rehabilitation?

Unfortunately, people in certain situations and with certain convictions are NEVER eligible for a Certificate of Rehabilitation. You are NEVER eligible for a COR if:

    You were convicted of certain serious sex offenses (listed in California Penal Code sections 269, 286c, 288, 288ac, 288.5, 288.7, or 289(j));
    You are on mandatory lifetime parole (for more information on the length of state parole and who must serve mandatory lifetime parole, see the PAROLE & PROBATION CHAPTER, PG. 152);
    You have been sentenced to the death penalty (and your sentence has not been overturned);
    You are serving in the military; or
    You no longer live in California.[3159]

If you no longer live in California…

This manual focuses on how to clean up your criminal record if you live in California. If you have a California conviction but no longer live in California, you may be eligible for a Governor’s Pardon (see PG. 984).

If your conviction is from another state, you will not be eligible to clean up your record using the California remedies described in this chapter. However, many other states provide similar remedies, so you should find out what “cleaning” remedies are available in the state where your conviction is from.

If you have a federal conviction, possible remedies for cleaning up federal criminal records start on PG. 993.

NOTE: If you ONLY have misdemeanor convictions on your criminal record, you are NOT eligible for a Certificate of Rehabilitation. Instead, it is recommended that you try to get your conviction(s) dismissed under California’s expungement statute (see PG. 957). BUT there is one exception—if you were convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense (listed in California Penal Code Section 290), then you may be eligible for a Certificate of Rehabilitation AFTER you get your conviction expunged. (You must also meet the expungement requirements to be eligible, see PG. 960.)

  1. 3159

    Cal. Penal Code § 4852.06; A Certificate of Rehabilitation is an official court order declaring that you have been rehabilitated. Cal. Pen. Code § 4852.13(a). See also State of Cal., Office of Governor, Office of Gov. Edmund G. Brown Junior, How to Apply for a Pardon at 3 (rev’d Sept. 5, 2013), http://gov.ca.gov/docs/How_To_Apply_for_a_Pardon.pdf (certificate of rehabilitation “[s]erve[s] as an official document to demonstrate a felon’s rehabilitation). ↑