A new scorecard released by the Juvenile Law Center Thursday found the vast majority of states in the U.S. are failing to protect the privacy of juvenile offenders. Florida ranked 32nd for policies keeping juvenile records confidential, sealed and expunged.
Florida received three out of five stars in the national scorecard rating the availability of ways to seal or expunge a juvenile record.
The state scored even lower for the confidentiality of those records. And Florida’s policies are pretty much the average nationwide.
Judge Jay Blitzman, who presides over a juvenile court in Massachusetts, said during a teleconference held be the Law Center that access to expungement is just good policy.
"If you believe in second chances, I think you have to believe in expungement." -- Judge Jay Blitzman
“If you believe in second chances, I think you have to believe in expungement,” Blitzman said. “The primary reason for expungment or for the belief in the utility of the proposition is that it better protects public safety outcomes.”
Blitzman said not protecting the privacy of people who committed crimes when they were young, which 95 percent of the time are non-violent, closes off a segment of the population to education and good legal jobs.
And this is the case for Dina Lexine Sarver of Port St. Lucie. Sarver served 6 months in a juvenile facility when she was 15 years old.
Since then, she’s been trying unsuccessfully to get her record expunged.
She now works in health care and has been trying to move forward in her career. Sarver’s set to receive a Bachelor’s degree next month—only after she got two public defenders to fight for her right to graduate.
Before that, Sarver said she was forced to give up a seat in a nursing program. She said that’s because her record still follows her everywhere.
“My juvenile record currently shows up on a public background check,” she explained. “So, anyone with my first and last name and $18 can pay online and see my juvenile record. This includes housing authorities and potential employers.”
Sarver—a married mother of two-- said the worst part is that her record even disqualifies her from chaperoning her sons’ field trips.
