Juvenile record sealing is an integral part of the juvenile justice system’s focus on rehabilitation. Having a juvenile record can limit a young person’s ability to apply for a job, college and various state licenses, including the license for adoption. However, due to the lack of information and the confusing sealing processes currently in place in California, many young people do not even realize they need to seal their juvenile records — and even if they do, the process presents significant obstacles.
The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) conducted a survey of record-sealing practices in California and found the process is not adequately accessible to young people. Out of the state’s 58 counties, only 18 have online application forms to seal juvenile records, and only 20 counties have step-by-step descriptions of the process. Seal It, a new project by CJCJ with support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, aims to ease this process by offering a central location where people can learn how to seal their juvenile records in any California county and, whenever possible, seal their records online.
[For more of this story, written by Erica Webster, go to http://jjie.org/op-ed-too-many...nile-records/108025/]
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