plea agreement: Hands tied up by handcuffs on table signing an agreement

Opinion: Juvenile Records Should Not Be Used In Adult Sentencing Enhancement. Here’s Why.

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How is this possible?" I ask my friend Felix. There’s a noticeable and rare twist of anger in my voice.

"You know what to expect,” he says. “When have they ever ruled on the side of the law when it comes to us?" Felix is responding to the news I just shared with him: My case in the Washington State Court of Appeals was denied.

"Yeah, I know! What was I thinking, having hope?"

I want to scream in the justices’ faces, "HOW CAN YOU BE SO DUMB? DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THE LAW?"

I’m annoyed with myself. I have been involved with the courts since I was 11 years old. The fact that I allowed myself to hope I could receive a fair shot in the courts, well, it pisses me off — I know better. But what hurt the most was listening to my partner cry on the phone while I read the email from my lawyer:

juvenile records: word “criminal” in stack of papers

Juvenile Records Laws Must Be Reformed to Prevent Ongoing Racism

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The juvenile justice system was created 120 years ago to reform and rehabilitate “wayward” youth to ensure they had the opportunity to achieve productive futures. To this end, it was widely accepted that juvenile system involvement should remain confidential and that all records should be sealed or eradicated to ensure youth a clean slate upon reaching adulthood. Juvenile records laws were enacted to protect the privacy of system-involved youth. Today, however, the privacy protections afforded by juvenile records laws have hollowed out by loopholes and limitations that make confidentiality the exception more than the rule for many juvenile offenders. The broad accessibility permitted by juvenile records laws combined with technological innovation in data storage and mining make juvenile record information more available than ever.

Pennsylvania Court Ruling Says Colleges Have Right to Incoming Students’ Juvenile Delinquency Records

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Last week, an attorney representing an incoming freshman with intentions of attending Temple University asked Pennsylvania’s Superior Court to reconsider the state’s “Juvenile Act,” following an appeals court ruling that allowed the university to be informed of his client’s previous delinquency history. In a 2-1 decision, judges upheld a previous Lehigh County juvenile court ruling which said that the state’s “Juvenile Act” could be extended to universities and colleges. Following the ruling, attorney Gavin Holihan filed a motion asking the court to reargue the case, this time in front of a larger panel of judges. Pennsylvania’s “Juvenile Act” requires schools to be notified if an enrolled student is found delinquent of a crime, with additional information required if the crime constitutes a felony. At 17, Holihan’s client had been found delinquent of disseminating child pornography on a file-sharing network.

Releasing Juvenile Records to Universities Unfairly Burdens Youth

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I joined the Army in 1984, at least in part because I hated high school. I couldn’t stand the drudgery of boring classes, which, at least to my adolescent mind, were a big waste of my time. Even though my parents encouraged me to attend college, I was having none of it. My idea of what school looked like was pretty entrenched, and it took going to prison to get me back in the classroom. At the time, 1986, I had been in for not quite a year, and a lot of people told me that going to college would look good to the parole board.

locker stock photo - Clay Duda, JJIE.org

Texas Educators May Soon Gain Access to Student’s Criminal Records

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A piece of Texas legislation that would provide educators with detailed information about a student’s criminal history is poised to become law. If passed the measure would provide teachers and school officials access to juvenile records that have traditionally been confidential in most states, according to an Associated Press story. Educators and juvenile advocates were at odds about the effectiveness of the new measure. Educators said teacher safety was paramount, but advocates feared revealing students' criminal information would undermine the work of the juvenile corrections system -– a framework that aims to allow youth who’s decision-making skills aren’t fully developed to move beyond early mistakes in life, according to the AP. While current Texas laws allow teachers to be informed verbally about a student’s criminal past, the new legislation would require law enforcement to relinquish “all pertinent details” about a young offender’s history to the school superintendent.