A Canary in the Coal Mine: Juvenile Records and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
In the wake of the deadly shooting that took the lives of 19 elementary school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the first major piece of federal legislation to address gun violence since the 1994 assault weapons ban. On June 25, 2022, President Biden signed the BSCA into law. Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Pub. L. No. 117-159, 136 Stat. 1313 (2022).
While the BSCA has been widely celebrated for providing at least a first step toward stemming the tide of gun violence in this country, over the past year youth rights advocates have been quietly raising an alarm about the hidden danger the law could pose to young people who have been impacted by the juvenile legal system. In the law’s effort to stem gun violence, particularly among older adolescents, there is concern that the BSCA may impose new harms on system-impacted youth by opening up their juvenile records. We have been here before.
Once considered a central feature of the juvenile legal system, confidentiality protections for juvenile records were whittled away in the wake of the crime wave of the 1980s and 1990s. Today, juvenile records continue to impact young people’s ability to access education, housing, employment, and other opportunities for social, civic, and economic advancement.
It has taken decades to recognize the harms imposed on young people by laws meant to curb violent crime. Now, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, as violent crime spiked in cities around the country, and calls for legislators to get “tough on crime” have been renewed, it is imperative we learn from the past and ensure we don’t make the same mistakes. The BSCA is a canary in the coal mine. While we must pass laws to combat gun violence, we must also continue to ensure juvenile records remain confidential and are subject to expungement to give young people the fullest opportunity to benefit from the rehabilitative purpose of our juvenile legal system.
