Court orders adult crimes expunged despite juvenile offenses

The expungement of a person’s adult criminal record can be a life-saver for one who has been crime-free for many years and is clearly rehabilitated. For a person seeking expungement that also has a juvenile record, there appears to be little societal benefit in using a person’s long-past juvenile mistakes against him. Nevertheless, a New Jersey county court recently refused to expunge a man’s 18-year old adult record for burglary and receiving stolen property because he had also committed several juvenile offenses when he was a minor.

However, on appeal the New Jersey State Superior Court, Appellate Division, reversed the lower court’s decision and ordered expungement, in a holding that rules out consideration of the man’s juvenile record. The appellate court disagreed with the county court’s reasoning that the minor’s juvenile offenses must be held against him because they would have been crimes if committed as an adult. In this case, the 41-year old man was 22 when convicted as an adult of third-degree burglary and receiving stolen property and has been clean ever since. As a minor, he had been involved in several instances of juvenile crime.

New Jersey law provides that a person can petition the courts for expungement of criminal convictions where he or she has been crime-free for at least 10 years. The courts don’t generally grant this remedy where the individual is a multi-offender. However, the appellate court’s decision clarifies that juvenile offenses are not to be considered as additional crimes in determining whether an expungement is warranted.

An order of expungement by a New Jersey court will result in no adult criminal record showing up on routine background checks that are made by prospective employers and others. It has always been the case that juvenile offenses do not show up in a general background check. With an order of expungement, a person with a long record of rehabilitation can get a deserved final closure and put the past to rest.

Source: nj.com, “Man’s criminal record expunged after 18 years, despite juvenile offenses,” Lillian Shupe, Feb. 1, 2013