Juvenile records in Florida are not nearly as confidential as people think

they are. A child's name, photograph and arrest report are not confidential

if a child was:

1. taken into custody for breaking a law which, if committed by an adult,

would be a felony;

2. found by the court to have committed three or more offenses which, if

committed by an adult, would be misdemeanors; or

3. transferred to the adult system for prosecution.

Bottom line: felony arrests are not confidential. Misdemeanor arrests also

are not confidential if the child has been arrested on three or more

occasions.

In Florida, if a child hasn't been classified as a habitual juvenile offender

or been committed to a juvenile correctional facility, juvenile records are

expunged automatically when the offender reaches the age of twenty-four.

However, if the juvenile was ever classified as a serious or habitual

offender, or committed to a juvenile correctional facility, records will not

be expunged until age twenty-six. If a child was charged as an adult,

juvenile records will not be expunged automatically.

Parents of juveniles, or young adults who have reached the age of majority,

may not want to wait until automatic expunction occurs at twenty-four or

twenty-six, since by then having a criminal record could negatively impact

the educational, vocational, job and housing opportunities of the juvenile or

young adult. Fortunately, juvenile records can be sealed or expunged in the

same way as adult records, so long as statutory eligibility requirements are

met. Keep in mind, if you expunge or seal a record under the regular

expunction and record sealing statutes, you are only allowed to seal or

expunge one time in a lifetime.

There are, however, special juvenile expungement procedures for children

charged with non-violent misdemeanors. Often, first-time juvenile offenders

enter diversion programs or Teen Court. Once a juvenile has successfully

completed one of these programs for a non-violent misdemeanor charge, his or

her criminal history record may be expunged under a separate statute.

However, an application for pre-arrest or post-arrest diversion expunction

must be submitted no later than 6 months after the completion of the

diversion program. There are benefits for meeting this deadline! Records

sealed or expunged under the special juvenile procedures are an exception to

the ordinary rule that a person can only seal or expunge once in a lifetime,

meaning that if the juvenile later gets into trouble, he or she will still

have the opportunity to seal or expunge again.