Expungement of Florida Juvenile Records

In addition to the regular expungement process used most frequently in Florida, there are three other key processes for expunging nonjudicial juvenile criminal history records and denying access to those records by the general public. The other three processes for felony or misdemeanor juvenile records are

• juvenile diversion expungement;
• administrative expungement; and
• automatic juvenile record expungement.

Juvenile Diversion Expungement

Juvenile diversion expungement is a process, under Section 943.0582, Florida Statutes, used to expunge a specific type of juvenile criminal history record. Timely application for this process is critical!

Some of the key requirements for this process are as follows:

(1) The person successfully completed an authorized prearrest or postarrest diversion program for minors which a) is limited to first-time minor offenders who are arrested for a "nonviolent misdemeanor" that would not qualify as an act of domestic violence (as that term is defined in Section 741.28, Florida Statutes), and who have not otherwise been charged with or found to have committed any criminal offense or comparable ordinance violation; and b) expressly authorizes or permits this type of expungement;

(2) The person submits the required state application packet for expungement no later than 6 months after completion of the diversion program; and

(3) Prior to filing the application, the person had never been charged with or been found to have committed any criminal offense or comparable ordinance violation.

The state application for the juvenile diversion expungement process includes a section which requires certification by the relevant state attorney that the applicant has successfully completed the authorized type of prearrest or postarrest diversion program. The completed application must be filed with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), along with the applicant's fingerprints and the required state application processing fee of $75.00. If the applicant is under 18 at the time the application is signed and notarized, the applicant's parent or legal guardian must also sign the application. If FDLE determines that the applicant meets the statutory requirements for expungement under this process, the agency will expunge the person's record and provide notifications as required by law.

The "expungement" of records under this process is different than under the regular expunge process mentioned above (under Section 943.0585, Florida Statutes). Florida law requires local criminal justice agencies in the county in which the minor was arrested to seal records which are eligible under this process - not to shred or destroy them, as is required under the regular expungement process described above. In addition, a person's "expunged" record under this process must be made available to a criminal justice agency when the agency must determine the person's eligibility for a prearrest, postarrest, or teen court diversion program; when the record is sought as part of a criminal investigation; or when the person applies for a job with the agency. Under the regular expungement process, your records must be destroyed, except for the record maintained by FDLE.

One advantage to using the juvenile diversion expungement process is that it will not prohibit a person from applying to seal or expunge a different record using the regular process discussed above, under Section 943.0585 or 943.059, Florida Statutes.

Another advantage to the juvenile diversion expungement process is that there is no statutory requirement to file a petition for a court order to have a person's nonjudicial juvenile record expunged. A court order is required in the regular expunge process.

Automatic juvenile record expungement

Before applying for juvenile diversion expungement, you should consider a few things about nonjudicial juvenile arrest records in Florida. First, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) maintains Florida's database of criminal history records. Based on Florida law, some juvenile arrest records are not available from FDLE which were created during a certain period of time. Others are not available because they are automatically expunged after a certain period of time.

Prior to October 1, 1994, FDLE did not maintain juvenile arrest records in its database. So, juvenile arrest records for felonies before October 1, 1994, and those for misdemeanors before July 1, 1996, are not available to the public from FDLE's database, unless the juvenile was treated as an adult in the criminal justice process.

Under specific conditions, certain nonjudicial juvenile records in Florida are automatically expunged by FDLE when the person reaches the age of 24 or 26. Some juvenile records must be merged with a person's adult record. The conditions can get a little complicated and include several factors such as the nature of the charges, the disposition of the case, and the date of the arrest. You can read more about these conditions and Florida juvenile arrest records in Section 943.0515, Florida Statutes.

The above-referenced automatic expungement of juvenile records only applies to records maintained by FDLE. Other laws apply to juvenile records located at other agencies or entities (such as Section 985.04, Florida Statutes).