My son is 23 years old. He was charged with urinating in…

Hello Jacustomer,

Almost always, Urinating in Public and Driving with Earbuds in Pennsylvania are charged as summary offenses. That means Pennsylvania does not consider them a crime, crimes being only misdemeanors and felonies. That also means your son would be eligible to expunge these from his record 5 years after his conviction, unless he got ARD (Alternative Rehabilitative Disposition), in which case he could get it done sooner. You can read about the expungement procedure here, and see a sample petition here. While not a crime, until it is expunged it would be on his record and show as a criminal conviction for a summary offense.

In New Jersey urinating in public is a disorderly person's offense, which means that there too it is considered something less than a crime and pursuant to section 2C:52-3, it can be expunged after 5 years. The NJ statute is below.

2C:52-3. Disorderly persons offenses and petty disorderly persons offenses

Any person convicted of a disorderly persons offense or petty disorderly persons offense under the laws of this State who has not been convicted of any prior or subsequent crime, whether within this State or any other jurisdiction, or of another three disorderly persons or petty disorderly persons offenses, may, after the expiration of a period of 5 years from the date of his conviction, payment of fine, satisfactory completion of probation or release from incarceration, whichever is later, present a duly verified petition as provided in section 2C:52-7 hereof to the Superior Court in the county in which the conviction was entered praying that such conviction and all records and information pertaining thereto be expunged.

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I would note that in 13 US states, fortunately neither of these two, public urination is considered a sex crime and those convicted of it must register as a sex offender. Tell your son that if he expects a medical career, he should start thinking very hard about breaking this particular habit.