Three records, three answers
When people ask how long a charge stays on their record, they usually mean Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, the public website everyone still calls CCAP. But a Wisconsin charge lives in three places, each with its own rules, and the honest answer is different for each.
| How the case ended | Shown on WCCA for |
|---|---|
| All charges dismissed, or acquittal (felony or misdemeanor) | 2 years after disposition |
| Misdemeanor or criminal traffic conviction | 20 years after the case closes |
| Felony conviction, Class B through I | 50 years |
| Felony conviction, Class A | 75 years |
| Traffic forfeiture or ordinance violation | 5 years |
| Expunged under § 973.015 | Removed when the expungement order takes effect |
The two-year rule for dismissals and acquittals was adopted by the Director of State Courts in 2018 on the recommendation of the WCCA Oversight Committee (State Bar of Wisconsin report). The conviction periods are the retention periods in Supreme Court Rule 72.01: (15)-(17) for felony files (50 years; 75 for Class A), (18)-(20) for misdemeanor and criminal-traffic files (20 years), and (24) for traffic forfeitures (5 years). The site itself is wcca.wicourts.gov.
1. Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (CCAP)
The public court website shows the court’s docket: charges, hearings, disposition, sentence. Its display periods are in the table above. The case does not cease to exist when it leaves the website; the clerk of courts keeps the file, and anyone can request it in person. What changes is that a name search by a landlord, an employer or a neighbor no longer finds it.
2. The Department of Justice criminal history record
Every fingerprinted arrest is reported to the DOJ Crime Information Bureau under § 165.84, and the DOJ maintains the state criminal history repository under § 165.83. This is the record that answers a background check run through the DOJ, that licensing boards and many employers use, and that federal agencies see. It is not subject to the CCAP display schedule. A dismissed case appears with its disposition; an arrest that never led to a charge can appear as an arrest.
3. Private background-check databases
Commercial vendors buy and copy court and DOJ data. They are the slowest to update and the most likely to report a dismissed or expunged case as if it were still pending. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute inaccurate information, and the court’s disposition order is the document that resolves the dispute.
What actually shortens the record
- A dismissal or acquittal puts you on the two-year CCAP track instead of the 20- or 50-year one. Every negotiation that moves a case toward dismissal, including deferred prosecution agreements, is also a negotiation about the record.
- An amendment to a municipal ordinance violation takes the case out of the criminal system entirely. Ordinance cases are civil forfeitures, not crimes, and are not criminal history.
- Expungement under § 973.015 removes an eligible conviction from CCAP after the sentence is completed, but only if the judge ordered it at sentencing, the offense carried 6 years or less, and you were under 25 at the time. It is a decision that has to be made on the day of sentencing, not later. See Wisconsin expungement.
- A pardon from the Governor restores civil rights, including firearm rights for a Wisconsin felony, but does not remove the conviction from the record.
Employment and the record: the law on your side
The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, § 111.335, makes it unlawful for most employers to discriminate on the basis of an arrest or conviction record, with an exception for convictions and pending charges whose circumstances substantially relate to the particular job. It is one of the broader protections in the country, and it is the reason a Wisconsin employer’s question about your record has legal limits. Our post on the civil consequences of a criminal conviction and employment walks through it.
The decision that sets the clock
The length of your record is decided at two moments: when the charge is filed, and when the case is resolved. A charge amended to an ordinance, a case dismissed after a deferred prosecution agreement, or a sentence with expungement ordered each produces a different answer to the question at the top of this page. That is why the resolution of a “small” case deserves the same attention as a serious one. Read misdemeanor vs. felony in Wisconsin and the first plea offer in a Wisconsin case, then call (262) 632-5000 for a free case review from our offices in Racine and Kenosha.