Mark Wahlberg and the Long Term Consequences of Juvenile Records

Juvenile Law Center,

Actor and musician Mark Wahlberg recently filed an application with the Massachusetts Board of Pardons asking the state to clear an assault conviction from 1988 when he was 16 years-old. Like many others, Wahlberg’s decades-old offense is causing roadblocks in his professional and personal life.

Wahlberg said, “I am not the same person I was on the night of April 8, 1988.” In fact, no adult is the same person he was when he was a teenager. Unfortunately, many youth who enter the justice system are haunted by the poor decisions they made as teenagers. Records become obstacles to success, creating barriers to youth when they try to get a job, secure housing, pursue higher education, or join the military.

In our recent report, Failed Policies, Forfeited Futures: A Nationwide Scorecard on Juvenile Records, Juvenile Law Center looked at the laws and policies in every state and Washington, D.C.; we measured them against our gold standard for protecting juvenile records. We focused specifically on laws governing the confidentiality of juvenile records during and after the adjudication process and laws permitting young people to seal or completely destroy (expunge) their records after their cases are closed.

As a whole, the nation fails to provide young adults with the opportunity to succeed once they have a juvenile record. According to our scorecard, less than 20% of the states earned 4 out of 5 stars. The majority of states earned 3 stars, and about 25% of states earned 2 stars. No state earned a perfect 5-star score.

If they’re so harmful, then why have juvenile records at all? For a short time they remain useful to law enforcement. They also contain information that is often necessary to facilitate rehabilitation and provide the child with appropriate treatment and services — highly sensitive information about the child’s family, education, social history and mental health. While the records are necessary during the rehabilitation process, maintaining – and in some cases selling – this information does very little to advance public safety and ultimately limits the youth’s opportunities for success in adulthood.

Despite the fact that 95% of juvenile arrests are for nonviolent offense and most youth have no further court involvement, many kids are continuously penalized for their pasts. This is especially true for youth of color, who are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system and are not treated equally for the same offenses committed by their white counterparts.

Juvenile records are not always confidential and are not automatically destroyed when a child becomes an adult. As our scorecard demonstrates, states vary widely regarding the laws and policies governing record sealing and expungement. Walhberg, who was charged as an adult, had no avenue for getting his record expunged, waiting 26 years to seek a pardon.

Many states do not permit youth to seek expungement, or they make the process extraordinarily difficulty or costly. And, of course, most adults lack the wherewithal to pursue a pardon years after the fact. This makes geography a major factor in a youth’s ability to overcome his past and pursue education or employment opportunities. Simply put, justice by geography is not justice. When we expunge juvenile records, we protect the future of our children. States need to strengthen laws that give youth the right to grow up, move past their mistakes, and demonstrate how they can succeed.

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