Let the youth rule

WE SAY Allowing the youth to determine whether their records are deleted is best.

In February two judges who had disgraced the bench were removed for “taking kickbacks to put young offenders in privately run detention centers,” according to the New York Times. In a follow-up article written July 27, the Times continued, now “thousands of youths who had to appear before (one of these) corrupt county judge(s) are in danger of losing the ability to sue for damages and court fees.”

According to the law in Pennsylvania, where the judges ruled on the youths’ cases, for a youth’s criminal record to be expunged, it must be deleted. This isn’t absurd. We believe in giving our youth a fresh start. To do that, we must eliminate the juveniles’ pasts so they can’t be held accountable as adults.

However, in this particularly rare case, in which the sentences were obviously subject to nonjudicial bias, deleting these kids’ criminal records will make it nearly impossible for them to seek reparations.

Lawyers for some 400 of the juveniles successfully argued that the records of their clients be copied and sealed in case they’re needed as evidence for future litigation. However, about 6,100 of the other youths have not yet requested their records, possibly because they don’t know their rights. Despite the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court’s decision to preserve sealed copies of the 400 juveniles, the other 6,100 records are currently subject to deletion as normal.

Marsha Levick, chief legal counsel for the Juvenile Law Center, a public interest law firm in Philadelphia, thinks all the records should be preserved.

It’s a well-intentioned idea. But it’s likely that some of those 6,100 juveniles might rather just have their criminal record destroyed and not join any of the lawsuits. Therefore, not all of the 6,500 records total should be preserved under seal. Instead, every effort should be made to get into contact with the remaining 6,100 juveniles to go over their rights with their guardians. Afterward, it should be left up to them to decide whether they want to take legal action and preserve their records, or just let them be deleted.

Although it’s somewhat of a catch-22 that they can’t do both – they must delete their records or preserve them for evidence – the youth should decide for themselves what’s the better option, based on their original circumstances. But, regardless, to make that decision they need to know their rights. Ideally, this pragmatic choice shouldn’t have had to be made, but the legal system has found itself caught in a kind of unprecedented situation.