Juvenile Record Expungement

While the state of Mississippi, my home state, does provide for the expungement of juvenile records, the actual process of expungement is rare. The reason for this is the state laws, which govern the sealing of all juvenile records. Even though the state law calls for the sealing of juvenile records, juvenile adjudications can be taken into consideration, by judges of the circuit courts, when determining sentences. This records can also be used, and disseminated to others, usually by court order of the youth court. Section 43-21-263 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, provides for the sealing of all juvenile court records, once a person has reached 20 years of age. The records may also be sealed, pursuant to this statute, if the charges

This statute reiterates that youth court records are to remain confidential, under normal circumstances, but it provides 20 exceptions to this requirement (Miss. Code, 1972). This statute requires that the youth court issue a court order, expressing what records, and to whom they may be disseminated to. Examples of times when these youth court records may be released are if they are being released to another youth court judge, or staff, the court deciding a child custody issue, the Department of Human Services, or any other judge, or staff of any court, which has requested the records. Another reason such juvenile records may be released is if the judge of circuit, or county courts, and presentence investigators, require such records for sentencing purposes, after a person has been convicted of another crime pursuant to Section 47-7-9 (Miss. Code, 1972). What this means is that juvenile adjudications can be used for sentencing considerations, for new convictions, even after said records have been sealed. Other exceptions to the sealing of youth court records include controlled substance violations, implied consent violations, and violations of sexual abuse statutes. The important thing to be taken away from this statute is that juvenile court adjudication records may be used in presentence investigations of any person who has been convicted of a

This is due to the state law providing for the sealing of juvenile records when a person has reached 20 years of age (Miss. Code, 1972). Although the records are supposed to be sealed, state law does apply for 20 exceptions to this requirement, including the records being used by the judges of the circuit courts. The circuit court judges may request a presentence investigation on any person who is convicted of a felony. This investigation is to include a complete criminal history of the offender, to include juvenile adjudications, and is to be used by the judge to determine an appropriate sentence (Miss. Code,