On January 3, 2017, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18) introduced H.R.61 – Fair Chance for Youth Act of 2017. This bill would amend the federal criminal code to create a process to expunge and seal certain youth criminal records. In this bill, a youth is defined as a person who was arrested, prosecuted, or sentenced for a criminal offense committed at age 21 or younger.
A youth would be able to expunge records related to:
(1) a misdemeanor conviction
(2) a nonviolent felony drug conviction
(3) a conviction for any nonviolent offense committed prior to turning age 18
(4) an arrest or prosecution for a nonviolent offense that is disposed of.
A youth would be able to petition to seal records related to:
(1) a nonviolent conviction
(2) a conviction for any offense committed prior to turning age 18
(3) an arrest or prosecution for a nonviolent offense that is disposed of.
Each federal district court would be required to establish a Youth Offense Expungement and Sealing Review Board to review and make recommendations to grant or deny expungement petitions. The court must consider and decide each petition for which it receives a Review Board recommendation.
Concerns:
The United States already have a system that allows minors aged 16 years and under to seal their criminal history. By raising the age to 21 years, this essentially gives misguided youth another “get out of jail free” card. As minors become adults, it is in their best interest to teach them personal accountability.
If crimes are to be expunged for offenders who committed them between ages 17 and 21 years, then it becomes harder to sentence them as a repeat offender when they commit a repeat offense. This will potentially encourage future bad behavior.
