Title
Unsealed Fate: The Unintended Consequences of Inadequate Safeguarding of Juvenile Records in Maine
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Creation Date
3-16-2017
Description
In 2015, Maine law enforcement agencies made 3,547 youth arrests. This means that a juvenile record now is tied to each of those 3,547 young people. Although over half of Maine youth arrests are diverted from further advancing through Maine’s juvenile justice system, the initial arrest generates an arrest tracking number that marks the creation of a juvenile record. If not safeguarded, juvenile records, regardless of whether the charges lead to an adjudication, can lead to both immediate and long term unintended consequences. These consequences can extend far beyond the original contact, adjudication and associated sanction. Although this issue is not unique to Maine, the degree to which those consequences exist for youth who have been involved in Maine’s justice system is largely unknown and has been fundamentally unexplored.