Bill Summary: A child being confined in an adult facility (for a maximum of six hours) must be separated by sight and sounds from adults being confined in the facility. A child cannot be detained in a juvenile facility for a status offense. A child cannot be charged with “incorrigibility” without evidence that the family has tried and failed to help the child. The bill creates automatic expungement for children’s status offenses.
We support this bill because children making harmless, childish mistakes should not be criminalized and deserve to be protected from excessive and unneccesary trauma. Adults should not suffer enduring consequences of a status offense committed as a child. The expungement process is difficult to navigate. Automatic record sealing will ensure that childish mistakes do not prevent young adults from securing jobs and housing.
