Florida: Juvenile Law Enforcement Records (FL-LE-8)

A record of an arrest of a minor made contrary to law or by mistake can be expunged upon application to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Fla. Stat. § 943.0581, 11C-7.008(1), F.A.C.

Record Detail(s)

Arrests

Previous Conviction Disqualifying

No statutory language

Mandatory / Discretionary

Discretionary

Hearing

Clearance Process

Petition-based

Remedy

Expunge

Ineligible Category or Citation

No statutory language regarding ineligible offenses.

Procedure General

An application must be made to the department in the manner prescribed by rule for the administrative expungement of any nonjudicial record of an arrest alleged to have been made contrary to law or by mistake, provided that the application is supported by the endorsement of the head of the arresting agency or his or her designee, or the state attorney of the judicial circuit in which the arrest occurred or his or her designee. Fla. Stat. § 943.0581(3). For the specific procedure, see Fla. Stat. § 943.0581, 11C-7.008, F.A.C.

Fees

There is no statutory language regarding fees.

Effect

The record, or portion of a record, subject to expungement will be obliterated by any criminal justice agency having custody thereof, except that criminal history records in the custody of the department must be retained in all cases for purposes of evaluating subsequent requests by the subject of the record for sealing or expungement, or for purposes of recreating the record in the event an order to expunge is vacated by a court of competent jurisdiction. Fla. Stat. § 943.045(16). An application or endorsement under this section is not admissible as evidence in any judicial or administrative proceeding and cannot be construed in any way as an admission of liability in connection with an arrest. Fla. Stat. § 943.0581(6), Fla. Admin. Code r. 11C-7.008(8).

Waiting Periods

The application may be made at any time.

Back to Florida