Juvenile court: procedure

People whose juvenile petitions are dismissed gain explicit protection from future adverse consequences based on those adjudications. The law also directs courts to give great weight to evidence favoring dismissal in most eligible cases.

What the law does ​

• Deems a juvenile adjudication dismissed under this law not to have occurred and bars future adverse consequences based on it.
• Clarifies that dismissing a sustained petition also sets aside the court’s findings.
• Requires juvenile courts, when considering dismissal at or after the end of jurisdiction, to give great weight to evidence of specified mitigating circumstances.
• Identifies satisfactory probation completion, rehabilitation, public safety, mental illness, prior victimization, and childhood trauma as relevant mitigating circumstances.
• Excludes the great-weight standard when the person has been convicted in criminal court of a serious or violent felony, while preserving the court’s general authority to dismiss.
• Preserves access to unsealed records in later juvenile proceedings and preserves unpaid victim restitution obligations.

Who it affects ​

• People who were the subject of juvenile delinquency petitions.
• Juvenile court judges deciding whether to dismiss petitions or set aside findings.
• Prosecutors, probation departments, and defense counsel in later juvenile proceedings.
• Victims owed restitution under civil judgments.

Context ​

The law codifies that dismissal and record sealing are separate forms of relief.