The Hidden Cost of a Maryland PBJ: What Probation Before Judgment Actually Means for Your Job, License, Immigration Status, and Future

Probation Before Judgment — PBJ — is the most misunderstood disposition in Maryland criminal law. It is presented to defendants, often correctly, as the best result available short of an outright acquittal: no conviction, eligibility for expungement, no permanent criminal record. For many people charged with first-offense DUI, theft, drug possession, or other non-violent offenses, those things are true and PBJ is the right disposition.

But PBJ is not a free pass, and it is not invisible. There is an entire category of consequences — employment, professional licensing, federal employment and security clearances, immigration, firearms rights, gun-and-ammunition law, future sentencing exposure — where PBJ functions almost identically to a conviction, or in some cases worse. The defendant who took the plea thinking the case was over often learns, sometimes years later, that PBJ has done damage the criminal lawyer did not warn about and the sentencing judge did not explain.

This article is the version of the PBJ conversation that every defendant should hear before the plea, not after.

What PBJ Actually Is, Under Maryland Law

PBJ is governed by Maryland Criminal Procedure Article § 6-220. After a finding or plea of guilty, a Maryland court may, with the defendant’s consent, strike the entry of judgment and place the defendant on probation. If the defendant successfully completes probation, no conviction is entered. The statute is explicit: “Discharge of a defendant under this section shall be without judgment of conviction and is not a conviction for the purpose of any disqualification or disability imposed by law because of conviction of a crime.” That language is the source of most of PBJ’s benefits — and of most of the misunderstanding about its limits.

A successfully completed PBJ becomes eligible for expungement after the probation period ends. The waiting periods are set by the expungement statute; for most PBJ dispositions the wait is meaningful but finite. Once expunged, the record is removed from general public access.

All of that is the favorable side of PBJ. Here is the rest.

Five Areas Where PBJ Does Not Act Like “No Conviction”

1. Professional Licensing Boards

Most Maryland licensing boards — Physicians, Nursing, Pharmacy, Real Estate, Insurance, and many others — write their application and renewal questions broadly enough to capture PBJ dispositions, not just convictions. The Board of Physicians’ application, for example, asks whether the applicant has ever pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to a criminal charge regardless of whether adjudication was withheld, or has been placed on probation before judgment. The Board of Nursing’s application uses similar language.

The result: PBJ does not relieve the licensee of the duty to disclose. A licensed professional who accepts a PBJ on a DUI and answers “no” on the next renewal application because the criminal lawyer told her PBJ “is not a conviction” has just created a separate, often more serious problem with the board — failure to disclose, which most boards treat as an independent ground for discipline. If you hold a professional license in Maryland and are being offered a PBJ, the licensing analysis has to happen before the plea, not after the renewal.

This is covered in greater depth in our companion article on professional license defense and DUI.

2. Federal Employment and Security Clearances

Federal employment applications, particularly Standard Form 86 (SF-86) for security clearance investigations, ask broad questions about criminal history that explicitly capture pleas and dispositions other than conviction. The relevant questions on SF-86 ask whether the applicant has ever been charged with any felony offense, whether the applicant has ever been charged with an offense involving alcohol or drugs, and whether the applicant has been arrested by any police officer in the last seven years. Even disclosed PBJ dispositions for alcohol-related offenses are reviewed under the adjudicative guidelines for security clearances — including Guideline G (Alcohol Consumption) and Guideline J (Criminal Conduct) — and can result in clearance denial, revocation, or downgrade.

Maryland is home to a large federal contractor and government workforce — Fort Meade, NSA, NSWC Indian Head, Aberdeen Proving Ground, and the surrounding contractor ecosystem. For a cleared employee or a clearance applicant, a DUI PBJ is not the end of the world, but it has to be handled correctly: full disclosure on the SF-86, documentation of evaluation and treatment if any, and in many cases a written explanation prepared with counsel. PBJ is a disclosable event under SF-86 regardless of Maryland’s “not a conviction” rule. Pretending otherwise costs people their careers.

3. Immigration Consequences

Federal immigration law does not adopt Maryland’s definition of “conviction.” Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(A), a “conviction” includes a formal finding of guilt — or a plea of guilty or nolo contendere plus the imposition of some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on liberty — even if the state court withholds entry of judgment. The plain consequence is that a Maryland PBJ, which by definition involves a plea or finding of guilt plus probation, is often a “conviction” for federal immigration purposes even though it is not a conviction under Maryland law.

For non-citizens — permanent residents, visa holders, undocumented persons — this matters enormously. Depending on the offense, a PBJ can trigger removal proceedings, inadmissibility, or denial of naturalization, exactly as a conviction would. The criminal lawyer who tells a non-citizen client that PBJ is “not a conviction” without consulting an immigration analysis is committing the kind of error that the Supreme Court addressed in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), and that has been a recurring source of post-conviction relief litigation ever since. Non-citizen defendants in Maryland need both criminal and immigration counsel before accepting any disposition, including PBJ.  There are avenues for an immigration safe plea under Maryland Criminal Procedure Article § 6-220(c) (often called a PBJ-C) to obtain the benefits of this disposition, but a thorough and lengthy analysis is required under subsection c.

4. Future Sentencing Exposure: PBJ as a Prior Offense

This is the consequence most non-lawyers do not see coming. A successfully completed PBJ on a DUI is not a conviction for general purposes — but it is treated as a prior offense for purposes of potential plea recommendation for the next DUI. If a person takes a PBJ on a first-offense DUI in 2024 and is arrested again in 2026, the State will increase the pressure for jail time and increased supervision. While the mandatory enhancements — increased maximum penalties, mandatory minimum jail time at the higher offense levels, longer license consequences — do not apply as if the PBJ had been a conviction, the State will put in best efforts in every jurisdiction in the State to obtain some bit of a jail sentence.

The same logic applies in several other offense categories. A defendant who takes a PBJ assuming the slate is wiped clean has not actually wiped the slate clean for sentencing purposes; the prior is sitting in the file, waiting to be used in any subsequent sentencing.

5. Firearms Rights and Federal Prohibitor Status

Firearms eligibility is governed by overlapping federal and state law, and PBJ’s status depends on the underlying offense. For a misdemeanor offense, a Maryland PBJ generally does not create a federal firearms disability under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), which applies to convictions punishable by more than one year, because Maryland’s “not a conviction” treatment is recognized for that purpose under federal law in many circumstances. For domestic-violence-related offenses, the analysis is different and harsher — 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) and Maryland’s own firearm-disqualifier provisions can attach to PBJ dispositions involving qualifying domestic violence conduct. For some Maryland firearm-purchase background checks, a pending PBJ probation period itself will be a disqualifier even though the underlying disposition is not a conviction.

If firearms ownership matters to you — for work, for hunting, for any reason — the firearms analysis has to be done before the plea, with attention to the specific offense charged and the specific federal and state prohibitor provisions that may apply.

Areas Where PBJ Does Work as Advertised

To be fair to the disposition: there are real and meaningful benefits to PBJ, and most defendants are right to want one. The honest list:

• Most private-sector employment background checks. Many private employers run background checks that report convictions only. A successfully completed and expunged PBJ generally will not appear on those checks. The disposition does what most defendants think it does in this category.
• Auto insurance and most state driver’s license records. PBJ on a DUI generally avoids the conviction-based assessment of points and the associated long-term insurance and licensure consequences of a DUI conviction. The MVA still assesses administrative consequences from the DR-15 / interlock process, but that is a separate track.
• College admissions and many graduate program applications. Most ask about convictions, and a successfully completed PBJ that has been expunged is generally not a conviction the applicant must disclose for these purposes — though always read the specific application language. Federal financial aid and Bar admission applications are exceptions and ask more broadly.
• Maryland general public records. Once probation is completed and the PBJ is expunged, the Maryland Judiciary Case Search record is removed, and the disposition is shielded from most public-records searches.

How to Think About Whether PBJ Is Right for Your Case

PBJ is a strategic choice, not an automatic one. The questions that should be answered before accepting a PBJ offer are:

• Does the defendant hold a professional license, and if so, what does that board’s application actually ask?
• Is the defendant a non-citizen? If yes, no plea — including PBJ — should be entered without immigration analysis.
• Does the defendant hold or anticipate seeking a federal security clearance?
• Are firearms or hunting rights material to the defendant’s work or life?
• How likely is a future charge in the same category, and what is the sentencing exposure if the PBJ becomes a “prior”?
• Is the better outcome actually a different plea — to a reduced charge that does not carry the same collateral exposure — rather than a PBJ on the original count?

In many cases the answer is still PBJ. In a meaningful number, it isn’t. The point is that the answer should be the result of a real analysis, not a reflex.

The Bottom Line

PBJ is a useful tool. For the right case and the right defendant, it is exactly the right disposition. For the wrong case — the licensed professional, the non-citizen, the cleared federal employee, the defendant with a real risk of a second offense — accepting a PBJ without thinking through the collateral consequences can cause damage that the criminal lawyer’s “win” in District Court does not begin to offset.

If you are charged with a DUI or any other offense in Harford County or elsewhere in Maryland and your lawyer is recommending PBJ without walking you through the collateral analysis above, ask more questions. The few hours it takes to get the answers right are the cheapest investment you will ever make in your future.

Talk to an Attorney Before You Plead

Kurt Nachtman is a partner at Silverman Thompson, Slutkin & White and defends DUI, criminal, and professional licensing matters in Harford County and across Maryland. Consultations are confidential and free. Call 443.909.7490 or email kurt@silvermanthompson.com to discuss your case before you accept any plea.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Probation Before Judgment a conviction in Maryland?

No. Under Maryland Criminal Procedure Article § 6-220, a successfully completed PBJ is not a conviction for purposes of any disqualification or disability imposed by Maryland law because of conviction of a crime. However, PBJ is treated as a conviction or a disclosable event under several other regimes — including most professional licensing applications, federal security clearance applications under SF-86, federal immigration law, and Maryland’s enhanced-penalty provisions for subsequent offenses.

Will a PBJ show up on a background check?

It depends on the type of check. A standard private-sector employment background check that reports only convictions generally will not show a successfully completed and expunged PBJ. A more thorough background check — including federal employment and security clearance investigations, FBI fingerprint-based checks, professional licensing board investigations, and certain financial-services and trust-related vetting — will see a PBJ even after expungement of the public court record. The right question is not whether PBJ shows up, but who is looking and through which system.

Can a PBJ be used against me in a future DUI case?

Yes and no. For purposes of any plea negotiation and sentencing a subsequent DUI, a prior PBJ on a DUI counts as a prior offense in Maryland. However, second DUI will not be charged and sentenced as a second offense, with the enhanced penalties that apply at that level.

How long until I can expunge a PBJ in Maryland?

Three years from the close of probation. The expungement process is a separate court filing and does not happen automatically. Counsel should advise on any specific waiting period for the relevant offense.

If I’m not a U.S. citizen, should I accept a PBJ?

Not without an immigration analysis first. Federal immigration law uses its own definition of “conviction” under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(48)(A), which often captures Maryland PBJs because the disposition involves a plea or finding of guilt plus probation. For non-citizen defendants, the criminal disposition can trigger removal, inadmissibility, or denial of naturalization regardless of how Maryland classifies the disposition. Non-citizens charged with any criminal offense in Maryland should have both criminal and immigration counsel involved before any plea, per the Supreme Court’s holding in Padilla v. Kentucky.