Commonwealth v. Armstrong

OPINION

KAUFFMAN, Justice.

The issue presented by this appeal is whether a person who successfully completes an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program (“ARD”) is entitled to have his or her record of arrest expunged. 1 For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the policy considerations underlying ARD mandate that unless the Commonwealth demonstrates an overriding societal interest in retaining that record, ex-pungement must be granted. Accordingly, we reverse and remand to the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County.

Appellant, Regina Armstrong, was arrested on February 1. 1976, and…