Florida Attorney Sealing Criminal Records for Minors
A criminal record is a matter of public record. It is out there for the world to see. It is visible to potential employers who perform a criminal background check. It can affect college admissions and scholarship eligibility. Depending on the seriousness of the offense, a juvenile criminal record can even affect a young adult's future years after entering adulthood.
At the law office of Robert Serrone, P.A., in Fort Lauderdale, our juvenile crime records attorney helps juveniles and parents of minors throughout Florida look to a brighter future by proactively working to get juvenile criminal records sealed or expunged. Once the process is complete, he or she can legally say the arrest never occurred.
Protect Your Future After a Juvenile Arrest
Whether your juvenile arrest record involves underage drinking, marijuana possession, simple assault or any other offense, it is important not to let one mistake follow you for years to come. Florida laws provide a remedy for juveniles with a criminal record. In many cases, the law provides for an automatic expunction/expungement of juvenile criminal history records after a specified period, which depends on the severity of the offense:
- Serious offenses or habitual offender crimes: Criminal history records are held for five years after the individual turns 21. Therefore, unless action is taken to get your juvenile record sealed, your criminal history records cannot be destroyed until you are 26. Also, you may lose eligibility to expunge your juvenile criminal record if a crime is committed prior to getting your record expunged.
- Nonserious offenses: Criminal history records are retained for five years after the individual turns 19. Therefore, unless action is taken to seal your juvenile criminal record, your criminal history record cannot be destroyed until you are 24. Also, if a crime is committed before your record is expunged or sealed, your juvenile criminal record may be ineligible for sealing or expunging.
While for many young adults, their juvenile crime record essentially goes away by the time they have reached 24 or 26 years old, these are important years that significantly shape the future. Having a criminal history record during these years — even for a seemingly minor offense — can reduce opportunities and stunt career growth. That is why it is so important to work to get juvenile criminal history records sealed.
Juvenile record sealing can be done much sooner than automatic expunction. And, once the process is complete, you can legally say the incident never occurred and it cannot affect college applications, employment applications and much more.
Contact a Florida Record Expungement Attorney
Don't let your future be shaped by a mistake. Call Florida juvenile crime record sealing lawyer Robert Serrone at 888-531-8969 or contact our attorney online. Robert Serrone, P.A., helps clients in sealing and expunging criminal records in the Fort Lauderdale area, Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties, South Florida and throughout the entire state of Florida.
