A common plot device in TV crime shows is for the investigator to learn something about a suspect by getting a look at the “bad guy’s” youth criminal records. Another character will usually observe that those records are supposed to be sealed. Then the cop (or whoever) says he has “a friend” in the youth division, or some other sneaky way of getting a look. Question, are the seals on youth-crime records really THAT leaky?
Here in NYC, a policeman shot and killed a man outside of a nightclub. The policeman was undercover and asked the man for drugs. The man didn’t have any and basically told the undercover guy to fuck off.
Needless to say, futher details are sketchy. This relates to your post because soon after the shooting the dead man’s “sealed” juvi record was all over the newspaper. This does not prove that juvi records are leaky. In this case it was the chief of police who released them.
There doesn’t seem to be much punishment meted out for releasing sealed records.
I know that here in Cali, you actually have to go and request that your Youth Records be sealed. If you don’t do so, it is still relevant.
cough Not that I know from experience cough
Here police investigators can look at the juvi records anyway. They don’t need a special friend, just a badge and a reason.
It depends largely on the law of the particular jurisdiction. Here in Canada, young offender records are kept for a certain amount of time following conviction, and then are destroyed. In the interim, they can only be consulted by law enforcement officers, etc., if they meet the conditions set out in the Young Offenders Act. Conditions for release of a young person’s records to the general public are extremely stringent.
The amount of time for retention is based on the seriousness of the crime in question - I think the shortest retention period is three months, for very minor matters, and the longest period is five years, for the most serious.
But, there are two exceptions - if the young person is convicted of another offence while unde 18, then the clock for the record of the previous offence is re-set, and starts to run from the second offence. And, if the person is later convicted in adult court of another criminal matter before the youth record is destroyed, then the youth record is kept indefinately.