Do i have a record?

[barbieisagoddess]

I am sixteen years old and two months ago I was caught shoplifting at ShopKo. The police were called; I was given a citation of $102 (for Juvenile Retail Theft) and released into my parent’s custody. I wasn’t fingerprinted, my picture wasn’t taken and I wasn’t read my rights or put in handcuffs. I promptly paid the ticket and the civil damages requested by the store. There was a court date but the appearance wasn’t mandatory. I didn’t attend (as I had paid the ticket and I had moved to a new state). This happened in Wisconsin and I currently live in Oklahoma (I moved a couple of weeks after the incident). Does that ticket mean I was convicted of a crime? Do I have a criminal record? If I do is there any way to get rid of it and how would I go about doing that? Can potential employers see that ticket? Do I have to put it down on job applications? Since it was just a misdemeanor citation, issued by the city police (Madison Police Dept.) does it show up on background checks? Because it happened in Wisconsin can Oklahoma employers see it? Thank You for your help!

[aaron]

If you were charged with a misdemeanor, and it was resolve d with a guilty plea (even with no court appearance), then you would presumably have a juvenile criminal record for that charge. It is very unlikely that an employer in your current state would track down a juvenile misdemeanor record from another state while performing a background check.