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Juvenile Sex Offense Record Seal?

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unforg1ven

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California

Hello,

I hope I can find some answers here. I have been desperately searching to no avail for my specific situation.

When I was 17 years old I went out partying with a bunch of friends, one who happend to be an ex-girlfriend of mine (We lost our virginity to each other). To make a already long story shorter, We ended up back at her house for a few beers and she let me spend the night at her house. We were both drunk, and when we were heading to bed she put on a very provocative nighty and got in with me. I of course took that as a come-on and started hitting on her (Copping a feel, trying to undress, etc). Suddenly she leaped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom when I was hitting on her. She stayed in there and started crying. I didn't know what to do at the time so I just stayed where I was (on the bed). Her sisters boyfriend at the time ended up kicking me out of the house and I walked home that night.

The next day I called their house to apologize, and come to find out that her sister and mother took her to the police department to report what had happend. I got the number from them and called the person handling the case. He took me in that following monday and took my story. Our stories matched completely, except she said that she was passed out and I was just all over her. She wasn't asleep. There was no way that could have happend considering I started hitting on her RIGHT WHEN SHE CRAWLED INTO BED WITH ME!

Anyways, they were able to keep me in custody after I had told them my story because I had a probation violation from earlier (I never did the community service, etc.). When court time came around my mother wouldn't show up to court, no one was on my side at all, and I had this public attorney who basically told me if I didn't plead guilty to attempted rape and they would promise to send me to a drug & alcohol group home (I admitted to the people taking my story at the time that I had serious drug problems and I wanted to get help for them), then I was looking at 5 years + in CYA.

I was so scared, and I didn't know what to do. people were telling me my actions were completely wrong, and I didn't know what to think, so of course I pleaded guilty as a minor to the attempted rape charge and they sent me to a Drug & Alcohol abuse group home for 2 years (with some sexual counseling in there, but it wasn't the entire basis of it).

I graduated their program completely. I first went through their year of group home, then they moved me over to their foster care program (because by that time my mom was completely gone, and no where to be found in the state). After that they graduated me to their transitional living program which we went to court for and they offered to pay for it because of how well I was taking to the rehabilitation.

When I was finally released from the group home/foster home services I was 19 years old, and my probation was promptly closed. They sent me to stay with my Grandparents because I had no where else to go. I was never told to register as a sex offender or anything, and I never received a letter from any entity saying I had to, so I assume that I didn't have to.

It's now been 8 years since that incident, and over 6 since I've been off probation and I've kept my nose clean ever since. I do not do any drugs, and I've been going to college to get my degree in computer science. I am also a UNIX systems administrator.

I am not the person they branded me as when I was 17, I never was. However, I am reading alot of conflicting material on the internet and its hard to see if theres any light for a guy like me. All I want is a second chance; A chance to be able to seal my record and move on with my life. I feel that I cannot apply to good Colleges or get jobs where they do serious background checks to better my life and become the person I was meant to be to society.

I am willing to do anything I have to do to fix this, I just don't know where to start or if it's even possible.

I guess my questions at the end of all this are:

1. Is "Attempted Rape" a 707(b) charge that's unsealable? There was no force, and when she got up I did not pursue it any longer.. It was by no means 'violent'.

2. Would the probation department or anyone have contacted me if I was required to register as a sex offender? (You see, I am even scared to pull my records from the California Department of Justice to see whats even on there for fear they might tell me I was supposed to and its my fault and send me to jail or something similar) I mean they sent me paperwork saying my juvenile case was closed but nothing else.

3. If it is unsealable, is there anything other options I can look at?

I can only ask you spare the judgements, but there may still be one or two hecklers in the crowd that wish to ruin my desperate plea for help with their witty comments. All I ask is you please read the entire post before you attack me.

Thank you for your time
 
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unforg1ven

Junior Member
Upon further research I stumbled upon something:

When I was sent to that group home I was actually made a ward of the court (I just remembered this) due to my mother disappearing, me growing up in fosters homes before, etc. When I had first graduated the group home, I had to go back to the courts in order for them to approve me for them to pay for the transitional living program.

What I'm getting at is that I must have been apart of the DJJ (Department of Juvenile Justice) rehabilitation program (But I was never told) And according to a website I was reading, juveniles that are part of the DJJ program can get their cases dismissed if they successfully graduate the program they setup for you. (Which would explain why I never received anything after I was released in regards to registering) If you do not graduate however, then you are sent to CYA for however long your time is and you're basically screwed for the rest of your life.

This is all starting to make so much more sense.

Of course I'm going to have to pull my juvenile records in order to make sure this is the case, but I hope this does clear any confusion (at least it did for me) as to why adult offenders can go and get certificates of rehabilitation, etc to fix their lives, yet minors don't really have anything like that if their cases are serious enough.. Minors I would assume would be the first people society would try to forgive and give another chance to.

Anyways, thanks for letting me gather my thoughts in regards to this problem I am currently facing, and any further comments are welcome.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Check the CA Courts website for info on this:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/other/crimlawclean.htm

For Juvenile records ...

Juvenile Records

Your Juvenile records do appear on your criminal record. Upon your 18th birthday, you are eligible to petition to have your juvenile records sealed. Once sealed, no one can gain access to them and they will be completely destroyed five years from the date of sealing.

Juvenile records are not automatically sealed upon your 18th birthday. You must affirmatively petition the juvenile court to have them sealed. You can do this by filing out a form and filing it with the juvenile court in the county in which you were convicted. Contact the juvenile court in the county you were convicted, and ask them to send you a copy of the form used in that county. Check to see if they have any special filing requirements such as additional photocopies or the need to serve copies of the petition on any government agencies, and get the correct information for filing by mail. Usually, there is no fee.

If you graduated from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice , your juvenile conviction(s) will have been dismissed as part of your graduation. If you do not petition to have your juvenile records sealed and destroyed, they will remain on your record until your 38th birthday, then they will be destroyed.
What Penal Code section did they obtain a True Finding on?


- Carl
 
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unforg1ven

Junior Member
Thank you Carl.

I'm not quite sure yet, I just got my fingerprints done and I'm awaiting the results. I also called my old group home and they offered to send me a letter of recommendation to get my records sealed if they haven't already been dismissed as described above.

When I was in that group home, I pretty much didn't know what was going on with my case most of the time.. I just did what they told me.

I will update as soon as the results come in.
 

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