PENNSYLVANIA

An order of disposition or other juvenile adjudication is

not a conviction of crime and does not impose any civil

disability ordinarily resulting from a conviction or operate

to disqualify the child in any civil service application or

appointment. 42 Pa. Cons. stat. § 6354.

Juvenile Record Contents

There are two types of juvenile records: juvenile court records

and law enforcement records. Law enforcement records include

any records the police keep, and are kept in the Pennsylvania

State Police Central Repository or the local police station. A

juvenile record “is the information collected and retained by

juvenile justice agencies concerning juveniles, and arising

from the initiation of delinquency proceedings, consisting of

identiﬁable descriptions, dates and notations of arrest, written

allegations, petitions, other formal charging documents, ofﬁcial

court records, and any dispositions arising from those records.

The juvenile record does not include intelligence information or

investigative information that is maintained separately by law

enforcement agencies.” Pa.R.J.C.P. 120.

Conﬁdentiality of Law Enforcement Records

Law enforcement records are generally conﬁdential.

Exceptions: The following people may see and make a copy

of a child’s law enforcement records and ﬁles (42 Pa. Cons.

stat. § 6308):

Child’s attorney

Probation department personnel, including the

parole board when considering parole or discharge

Corrections department personnel of institutions to

whom the child is committed

Law enforcement ofﬁcers of other jurisdictions, when

necessary for ofﬁcial duties

Court personnel

Conﬁdentiality of Court Records

Juvenile court records are generally conﬁdential.

Exceptions: The following people may see and make a copy

of a child’s court records (42 Pa. Cons. stat. § 6307):

Child

Child’s attorney

Victim(s)’ attorney

Department of Corrections, the Parole Board, or any

agency providing supervision or having custody of the child

Court personnel, including judges, ofﬁcers, and

professional staff

Administrative Ofﬁce of Pennsylvania Courts

Additionally, under Pennsylvania Court Rule 163, the

juvenile probation ofﬁce provides a child’s court records

to a school principal or his or her designee, for limited

purposes. Pa.R.J.C.P 163.

Exceptions to Conﬁdentiality

Nature of offense: Records are publicly available if a

juvenile was twelve or thirteen years old at the time of

the conduct and committed one of the following offenses:

murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault,

arson, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, kidnapping,

rape, robbery, or attempt or conspiracy to commit these

offenses. 42 Pa. Cons. stat. § 6308(b).

Age of juvenile: Records are publicly available if a juvenile

was fourteen years of age or older at the time of the

conduct and the conduct would be considered a felony if

committed by an adult. 42 Pa. Cons. stat. § 6308(b).

National Security or Interest of Juvenile: Juvenile arrest

records are also disclosed to the public if national security

requires it. 42 Pa. Cons. stat. § 6308.

Court order: With leave of court, any other person or agency

or institution having a legitimate interest in the proceedings

or in the work of the uniﬁed judicial system may access

records. 42 Pa. Cons. stat. § 6307.

Availability of Records Online or in Commercial

Background Reports

Non-conﬁdential juvenile record information can be

accessed for $10 through the Pennsylvania State Police

online portal: Pennsylvania state PoliCe, Access to Criminal

History, https://epatch.state.pa.us/.

Consequences for Unlawfully Sharing

Conﬁdential Information

No information found.

Sealing or Expungement

Expungement: 18 Pa. Cons. stat. § 9123

Excluded Offenses

Adjudications that occurred after the individual turned 14,

for offenses classiﬁed as rape, involuntary deviate sexual

intercourse or aggravated indecent assault, or an attempt,

solicitation or conspiracy to commit any of these offenses

are not eligible for expungement. 18 Pa. Cons. stat. § 9123.

PENNSYLVANIA

www.jlc.org/juvenilerecords

Eligibility

One can apply to have a juvenile record expunged after

turning 18. An individual may seek expungement of a

juvenile or summary offense committed while the individual

was under 18 in four circumstances. First, the individual

may expunge his or her record if the complaint ﬁled

against him or her is not substantiated or the petition is

dismissed. This occurs when the written allegation is not

approved for prosecution or six months have passed since

the individual completed an informal adjustment and no

proceeding is pending. This can result from a motion ﬁled

by the individual or sua sponte. Pa.R.J.C.P 173. Second,

the individual may expunge his or her record if six months

have passed since the ﬁnal discharge of the person under

a consent decree or diversion program and no proceeding

is pending. In this case the individual must be over 18

years old, must have satisﬁed all the conditions of the

sentence, and must not have been subsequently convicted

of an offense. However, if the offense was related to the

purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of

alcohol, the individual must satisfy all terms relating to the

sentence.Upon successful completion, all criminal history

records and administrative records of the Department of

Transportation relating to the conviction will be expunged.

Third, the individual may expunge his or her record if ﬁve

years have elapsed since the ﬁnal discharge of the person

and that individual has not been subsequently convicted

of any offense and no criminal or juvenile charges are

pending against him or her. Finally, the individual’s record

may be expunged prior to the ﬁve-year mark if the attorney

for the Commonwealth consents to the expungement and

the court, after considering a variety of factors, orders the

expungement. 18 Pa. Cons. stat. § 9123

Notiﬁcation

Some counties have an informal notiﬁcation process, but

none exists in statute.

Automatic (without application)

The court may ﬁle on its own motion to expunge a juvenile’s

records. 18 Pa. Cons. stat. § 9123

Petition/Application

Each county court has its own process, including potentially

its own petition. After the petition for expungement is ﬁled,

the District Attorney (or DA) has 30 days in which to provide

consent. If the DA does not consent, a youth is entitled to

go to court to have the expungement reviewed by a judge.

In some counties, all cases, even those where the District

Attorney does consent, may require a hearing.

Hearing

If the DA does not consent, a youth is entitled to go to

court to have the expungement reviewed by a judge. In

some counties, all cases, even those where the District

Attorney does consent, may require a hearing. At the

hearing, the individual’s attorney will offer evidence as to

why the record should be expunged. The District Attorney

will provide argument as to why the record should not be

expunged. Case law holds that absent DA consent, the

Judge may not grant the child’s expungement petition,

despite the hearing process. 18 Pa. Cons. stat. § 9123;

Pa.R.J.C.P. 170.

Court Process

After the application, the court gives the DA 30 days in

which to consent to the expungement. In most counties,

when the District Attorney consents, the judge signs the

order and the individual is notiﬁed by mail whether the

expungement was granted. To grant the expungement, the

court must considers various factors including: (1) the type

of offense; (2) the individual’s age, history of employment,

criminal activity, and drug or alcohol problems; (3) adverse

consequences that the individual may suffer if the records

are not expunged; and (4) whether the retention of the

record is required for purposes of public safety. 18 Pa. Cons.

stat. § 9123.

Effect

Once a record is expunged, is it considered to be “erase[d]

legally...making it permanently unavailable to the public.”

Pa.R.J.C.P. 120. Under the comments to this new rule,

however, “[d]estroy” and “expunge” do not have the same

meaning. “Destroy” is to erase permanently, whereas

“expunge” is to erase legally or seal the record. Unless

authorized by rule or otherwise provided by law, no person

is to have access to expunged items. Only in extraordinary

circumstances would a record be opened by court order,

such as to retrieve speciﬁc information not clariﬁed or

documented correctly pursuant to Rule 173. However,

speciﬁc information from juvenile records could be

retained for limited purposes. For example, after a record

is expunged, under this Court Rule, law enforcement can

retain “intelligence and investigative information” after a

record has been expunged, including:

1) a list of juvenile names;

2) identifying information, such as date of birth;

3) intelligence information; and

4) investigative information.

Pennsylvania’s juvenile expungement rule applies to

documents, ﬁngerprints, or photographs. See Pa.R.J.C.P.

173 and its Comment.

www.jlc.org/juvenilerecords

Fee

Differs based on county in Pennsylvania.

Consequences for sharing expunged/sealed

information

None.

Resources

Juvenile law CenteR, Juvenile Records Expungement (2007),

available at http://www.jlc.org/sites/default/ﬁles/

publication_pdfs/expungeguide.pdf.

Juvenile CouRt Judges’ Commission, Juvenile Delinquency

Records: Handbook and Expungement Guide (2009),

available at www.jcjc.state.pa.us.

PA Court Rules 120, 163, 167, 170, 172, 173, 370, 408, 1120,

available at http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/

Supreme/out/641spct-attach.pdf?cb=1?cb=.