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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Default Can Dismissed Juvenile Petty Theft Be Reopened

    My question involves criminal records for the state of: California

    When I was 16, I got caught stealing a PS3 controller at Circuit City. They called my parents and I had to pay fines and do community service. The police told me that when I write paper work, if it asks "have you ever been convicted of a crime?", I can answer no. The case was dismissed. Now 4 years later, I am 19 and I got caught stealing an Aux cable worth $30. The police came and gave me misdemeanor petty theft ticket. He said that a mail will arrive at my house within a month. Now that I am an adult now I don't want my parents to know so I called some attorney. They told me that my previous record of my juvenile petty theft could be brought up and that it could affect me and that if I hired an attorney, I could get it dismissed. I don't know what to do. I thought that if a juvenile theft was dismissed, it could never be brought up again. Are the lawyers just scaring me into hiring them or do I really need to hire them? Also is it true that my dismissed juvenile record can be brought up in court?

    Also, because this is my first crime committed after the age of 18, would my case be considered a first offense or second offense because of the dismissed juvenile petty theft?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Can Dismissed Juvenile Petty Theft Be Reopened

    Should we infer that you never petitioned to seal your records?
    Quote Quoting California Juvenile Record
    Your Juvenile records do appear on your criminal record. Upon your 18th birthday, you are eligible to petition to have your juvenile records sealed. Once sealed, no one can gain access to them and they will be completely destroyed five years from the date of sealing.

    Juvenile records are not automatically sealed upon your 18th birthday. You must affirmatively petition the juvenile court to have them sealed. You can do this by filing out a form and filing it with the juvenile court in the county in which you were convicted. Contact the juvenile court in the county you were convicted, and ask them to send you a copy of the form used in that county. Check to see if they have any special filing requirements such as additional photocopies or the need to serve copies of the petition on any government agencies, and get the correct information for filing by mail. Usually, there is no fee.

    If you graduated from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice, your juvenile conviction(s) will have been dismissed as part of your graduation. If you do not petition to have your juvenile records sealed and destroyed, they will remain on your record until your 38th birthday, then they will be destroyed.
    I'm not certain from your description that there would be a record that would affect your present charge; your lawyer is in a better position to tell you what's on your juvenile record than we are (we're guessing based upon what you've told us.) From what you've stated, you shouldn't have a conviction.

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