A criminal record can continue to impact your life for years, even after you have served your sentence, paid all court fines, and met all your sentencing requirements. A juvenile record is particularly impactful, as it can impact your life as an adult regardless of the changes you make in your life or behavior. Sealing juvenile records is an opportunity the law grants you to start life afresh and not worry about your criminal past. Once a court seals your records, no one can access or use them against you.
The provision to seal juvenile records is under WIC 781. The process takes between eight and ten months, after which you will not worry about your disabling criminal past. You must file a request in the same county where your juvenile case was heard and determined.
Sometimes, these processes are complex and challenging to navigate alone. However, a skilled criminal defense lawyer can help you file a successful petition and fight alongside you until you obtain a favorable response.
What Sealing Juvenile Records Entail
Criminal liability does not always end with serving your sentence. Your criminal acts can continue to impact your life years after serving your time or completing your probation. The court does not remove the conviction from your record once your time is up. The same applies to juvenile records. Once you are arrested and go through the juvenile justice system, you will have a record that could continue to impact your adult life. Some people and entities conduct background checks and could determine how to serve you based on their findings. For example, loan lenders, employers, school officials, and landlords consider a person’s criminal record before extending service.
Therefore, sealing your juvenile records is an excellent idea. It will prevent people and entities from treating you according to your criminal past. It also allows you to move past your criminal past and start life anew. Everyone deserves a second chance in life, regardless of the gravity of their actions. If you are reformed or rehabilitated, you do not deserve to miss crucial opportunities in life because of your criminal past. Once your juvenile records are sealed, they will not appear when someone runs a background check on you.
However, you must file a petition with a criminal court, requesting that it seal your juvenile records. The court can grant or deny your petition based on underlying circumstances. If the judge grants the petition, they will close all your files so that all documents in your file will stop existing. Your records will no longer be publicly available. The essence of this process is to prevent the stigma of being a juvenile offender. Once your documents are sealed and destroyed, you can answer ‘no’ if asked the following questions regarding your criminal past:
- If you have an arrest record,
- If you have committed a crime in the past,
- If a court has sealed any of your criminal records,
Juvenile records include all reports and court documents regarding a criminal offense you committed as a juvenile (before your 18th birthday). They include the following:
- Reports regarding your arrests
- Exhibits
- The judge’s report and ruling
- Probation records
Typically, the proceedings of a juvenile court are not considered criminal. Thus, if you were arrested as a minor, a prosecutor filed a petition against you, and the judge sustained your petition, declaring you a court’s ward, that does not constitute a criminal record. This means that even without sealing your juvenile records, you can legally claim not to have a criminal conviction on your record. This is one of the ways in which the law protects minors.
However, even without reporting your convictions to prospective employers, landlords, licensing agencies, or lenders, they can still decide to deny your request after finding your unsealed arrest and court reports. Hence, you need to consider what is publicly available to anyone running a background check on you. Even a single document can ruin your life for a very long time. Fortunately, you can benefit from this provision to move on from what happened and focus on the future.
What Follows a Petition to Seal Your Juvenile Records?
Suppose you worry that your juvenile records could ruin your chances as an adult, or you have experienced it already. In that case, a skilled criminal lawyer can help you file a successful petition to seal your juvenile records. Remember that the judge can grant or deny your petition. The judge’s decision is usually based on whether you have been rehabilitated, if you have pending civil cases related to the juvenile case and the gravity of the offense you committed as a minor.
If the judge grants your request and seals your records, the records will be publicly unavailable. This means anyone running a background check on you will not find your sealed juvenile records. However, your records can be reopened under two specific circumstances:
- If you are involved in a defamation lawsuit, the court can temporarily open your sealed juvenile records and admit them as proof during the case proceedings. The court will seal your records again once the case is over.
- The DMV can also allow auto insurance companies to access your sealed driving records when evaluating your risk and eligibility for insurance. The DMV does not open sealed juvenile records for any other purpose.
Prosecutors also access juvenile records with a criminal court’s consent if opening them is necessary to divulge exculpatory evidence required for a particular case.
Without these circumstances, your sealed records will remain out of public view, allowing you to start life afresh without the disabilities of a criminal record.
Once the court seals your records, it will destroy them unless there is an existing reason for the court to retain them. Thus, the judge will give an order to damage your sealed records at any of these times:
- Five years after a judge’s order to seal your records, if a juvenile court judge declared you a court’s ward for being a truant or habitually disobedient
- On your 38th birthday, if you were a juvenile court’s ward for your involvement in crime
Once your sealed juvenile records are damaged, they cannot be reopened, even under the circumstances discussed earlier.
Reasons to Seal Your Juvenile Records
Sealing juvenile records under WIC 781 in California is beneficial in many ways. The main benefits include the following:
- You can truthfully and boldly answer ‘no’ when someone asks whether you have a criminal record. This is beneficial because it can open opportunities for employment, a loan, education, a professional license, and any other opportunity that could be difficult when you have a criminal record.
- You will not suffer discrimination by prospective employers, landlords, or anyone else who conducts a background check before granting you a chance. Even if they do, there will be nothing to find.
- Your requirement to register with the sex offender registry ends once the court seals your juvenile record. This applies to sex-related cases where you must enter the registry after a juvenile court judge sustains your petition.
- It gives you significant satisfaction and relief to know that you can start life anew after being haunted by the mistakes you made as a minor.
The Requirements to Apply for the Sealing of Your Juvenile Records
You must meet the required criteria to file a petition to seal your juvenile records successfully. A skilled criminal defense attorney can help you understand the requirements and ensure you meet all of them to improve your chances of success. The requirements are provided under WIC 781 and include the following:
- You must be an adult of at least 18 years. If not, you must demonstrate that the juvenile court’s jurisdiction over your case was terminated five years ago or more.
- Your record does not include a conviction as an adult for any felony offense or a misdemeanor involving a crime of moral turpitude (crimes of immoral or dishonest behavior, like some sex crimes, drug, fraud, and theft crimes)
- You must convince the court that you have received treatment or rehabilitation and will least likely commit the same offense.
- You do not have a pending civil case in the juvenile case for which you want the court to seal records.
Remember that not all juvenile cases can be sealed. WIC 707(b) lists grave offenses that, if convicted by a minor, will cause the minor to face trial in an adult criminal justice system. This disqualifies the minor from petitioning the court to seal those records. Thus, if you have a conviction for any of these crimes and you committed the crime after turning 14, you will be ineligible to seal your juvenile records. Examples of offenses listed under this statute include the following:
- PC 187, murder, or attempted murder
- PC 451, arson
- PC 211, robbery
- PC 215, carjacking
- Various sex crimes under California law
- Various firearm offenses under California law
- PC 206, torture
- All violent felonies
Sealing Juvenile Records Under PC 851.7
While WIC 781 is the primary for rehabilitated individuals seeking to seal their juvenile records, PC 851.7 offers the same privilege for a different category of people. These are people who were arrested as juvenile offenders and went through part of the juvenile justice system, but the judge did not sustain their petition. Remember that any criminal arrest goes into your record, whether or not you are guilty. An arrest record for a crime you did not commit can significantly impact your life. However, you have an opportunity to seal and destroy the record.
Thus, if you were arrested as a minor, but the prosecutor or judge dismissed your case, you qualify to seal those records. Specifically, the law allows the following people to petition to seal their juvenile records:
- Those who faced criminal arrests as minors but were released due to unsubstantiated evidence to support their charges in court
- Those whose charges were dismissed or a judge discharged them without sustaining their petition
- Those whom the judges acquitted of all their charges
If you fall into these categories, you can petition a criminal court judge to seal your records without waiting a particular time. Also, you do not have to meet all requirements provided under WIC 781, including waiting until you are an adult to file the petition. The process involved in this case is similar to the one used when sealing and damaging adult criminal records.
The Process For Sealing Juvenile Records in California
If you are worried about your juvenile records' impact on your future, it is time to consider sealing them. Fortunately, the law allows this on the condition that you meet the listed criteria under WIC 781. The process is straightforward if you are familiar with the court processes. But you could seek a criminal defense attorney’s help to ensure you follow the correct procedures and are successful. It will take between eight and ten months to complete the entire process. During this period, you will be involved in several court proceedings.
First, remember that you must file the request in the same county where your juvenile case was heard and determined. In most cases, the judge will not require you to attend the court proceedings in person if you have an attorney for legal representation. Your attorney will handle all legal matters, relieving you of the anxiety and stress of attending legal hearings. However, you must attend one or a few hearings if the judge wishes to speak to you individually. The judge will communicate this beforehand to allow you to prepare for the interview.
The filing process starts with you or your attorney preparing and filing the petition and supporting documents with a criminal court. Once the judge receives your petition, they will set a date when your case will be heard and determined. The judge will review the petition and all evidence presented at the court proceeding. Several parties can present evidence in your hearing, including you and your defense team, the probation department, the prosecutor, and anyone with information about the case. Once the court reviews the information and evidence presented during the hearing, it can make any of the following decisions:
- The judge can grant your request to seal your damaging juvenile records. In this case, they will issue an order and send it to any organization with your juvenile records. The order will instruct these agencies to seal and eventually damage the records.
- The judge can deny your request to seal your records
If the court denies your petition, your attorney can appeal after some time.
Working with a competent criminal defense attorney is advisable for many reasons. With their skills and knowledge of the law, they will ensure you file a successful petition. Your attorney will study your case and evidence to advise you on the best approach and strategies for a favorable outcome. They will also defend your petition during the hearing to compel the court to grant it. A competent attorney keeps going, even if the first petition is unsuccessful. They will try again through an appeal and use even better strategies to fight for a favorable result.
Thus, it is advisable to begin this process by hiring a skilled attorney. Consult with an attorney once the idea of sealing your juvenile records crosses your mind. Your attorney will ensure you follow the right strategies and obtain solid evidence to support the petition. Additionally, your attorney will help you navigate the complex court processes.
Cases Involving Deferred Entry of Judgement
Deferred entry of judgment occurs when a court suspends your judgment and sentencing for a drug-related offense to allow you to receive treatment and rehabilitation in a court-recommended program. If you are entirely rehabilitated or treated by the end of the program, the judge dismisses your case. But if you fail to complete the recommended program, the judge will continue your case from where they left off. This is usually available under PC 100 for both adult and juvenile offenders.
If this happened to your juvenile drug-related crime and you completed the program, the court should dismiss your case by the end of the program and seal that juvenile record. An attorney can help you check if the court sealed your record to ensure it does not interfere with your life as a treated or rehabilitated individual. If your records remain open, your attorney can petition the court to seal them.
Find a Competent Santa Ana Criminal Attorney Near Me
A juvenile criminal record could interfere with your adult life in many ways, significantly if you are fully rehabilitated. The record can affect your ability to find suitable employment, housing, credit, and other crucial services like insurance and professional licenses. Fortunately, the law allows you to seal your juvenile records through a criminal court.
At Darwish Law, we can help you prepare and file a successful petition. Our team of highly skilled and experienced criminal attorneys understands the legal processes involved very well. We can also develop the best defense strategies and present compelling evidence during the hearing to compel the judge to grant your petition. Call us at 714-887-4810 to learn more about sealing juvenile records in Santa Ana. We will also gladly share more details about our services.