Does a juvenile record follow you into adulthood?
Florida provides for automatic expunction of most juvenile records. Reporting and § 943.0515 indicate records are generally expunged at age 21, or at age 26 for those committed to a DJJ residential program.
That automatic destruction is one of the strongest arguments for keeping a case in juvenile court.
What doesn't disappear. A case direct filed to adult court produces an adult criminal record with none of this protection. And an adjudication of delinquency, while not a conviction, can be used to enhance sentencing for offenses committed as an adult.
There are also categories of offense excluded from automatic expunction.
Practical points: the expunction is automatic rather than something to apply for, but records may have circulated before then — school records, background checks conducted while the case was pending, and news coverage don't vanish because a court file does.
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