For Juvenile Criminal Records, Privacy is too Often a Myth

“The absence of stringent state regulations requiring up-to-date records in this industry only lengthens—and, in many instances, makes permanent—the public shelf life of one’s criminal history, even if ex-offenders were acquitted or the trial was dismissed. Nazario concurred on this point, remarking upon the enduring social stigma that a record places on a young person’s life. ‘Even if … you’re acquitted at the trial, when they run the background check, it still pops up that you were charged,’ he said. ‘It never disappears.'”