Expunging juvenile records

There are likely many adults in Monroe who look back on the days of their youth and wonder, given the benefit of maturity and hindsight, if they might not have done some things differently. A common opinion is that kids will be kids, and that their inexperience might lead them to do things that a reasonable adult would not. This certainly should not be viewed as justification for any allegedly criminal activity, yet at the same time, a criminal offense committed by a juvenile should not impact their chances for achieving success as an adult.

According to information shared by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, there were 728,280 juvenile arrests made in the U.S. in 2018, with the most common offenses being:

• Property crime
• Simple assault
• Theft
• Drug abuse

One certainly hopes that there teen does not get caught up in any of these activities, yet if they do, then the hope also exists that they will be able to move on from it and not have it come back to haunt them later.

State law paves the way for this to happen. Per Section 7B-3200 of North Carolina’s General Statutes, upon reaching the age of 18, one can submit a petition to the court that convicted them of an offense to have that offense expunged from their record. To qualify for expunction, however, they cannot have been convicted of an offense that would be considered a felony if committed by an adult. 18 months must also have passed from the time that they were released from juvenile court jurisdiction before they can apply to have their record expunged.