Home > Legal > Questions & Answers > Juvenile > When my daughter was 15 she and her friend got arrested for stealing some makeup. This is now on her juvenile record. Forever??
When my daughter was 15 she and her friend got arrested for stealing some makeup. This is now on her juvenile record. Forever??
She was 15 and she did get caught. I am told this will go on her juvenile record. Will this be something that she can't get a job? Is this on her record forever??? She knows she made a dumb mistake and was 15 at the time. She is now almost 20.
Juvenile criminal matters are not called convictions, they are called adjudications and juvenile records as far as most of the regular world is concerned are private. Your daughter does not have to reveal a juvenile shoplifting adjudication on a job application, college application, etc. The only way it might ever be an issue, (and I'm reaching some), is if she wanted to go work for the CIA or FBI; they would probably be able to find it. But, for the rest of the world this incident does not exist. If it concerns her a great deal she could always consult with an attorney about the possibility of having this adjudication expunged from her record now if she wanted to.
There will be both a law enforcement record and a court record for your daughter's arrest and whatever disposition (sentence) she was given. If she was sentenced to court supervision and successfully completed that supervision, she is eligible now to have everything expunged. If she was sentenced to conditional discharge or probation, her eligibility date will be the later of her 21st b-day or five years from when her conditional discharge or probation ended. Because juvenile records are confidential, she does not have to disclose this shoplifting incident to any prospective employers. The only employers who have access to juvenile records, aside from those who work in the juvenile courts themselves, are pretty much limited to law enforcement, the military, child welfare, and perhaps teaching.
