Starting this month, Deschutes County teenagers who had gotten in trouble with the law will receive notices on their 18th birthday.

“You are now able to say that no juvenile record ever existed and no (police) contact … ever occurred,” the notices read.

County justice officials expect around 20-30 people each month will receive the notice that explains how their juvenile arrest records will be expunged under a new process enacted by another new law aimed at criminal justice reform in Oregon.

But the law, the Youth Expunction Reform Act, also deepens a dilemma for young people.

Despite the fact an expunged arrest never happened in the legal sense, it still shows up on federal criminal background checks. So young adults starting out in the world have to consider voices telling them to disclose everything, and voices telling them they don’t have to.

“It definitely puts people in a difficult situation,” said Aliza Kaplan, director of the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at Lewis and Clark Law School. “I have advised youth clients to be open about it. But there isn’t one right way to handle it.”

Under Senate Bill 575, which passed the Oregon Legislature on June 26 and was enacted this month, Oregonians who qualify to have a youthful arrest expunged upon their 18th birthday will have that done automatically rather than via a voluntary application process. Under the old application process, only around 4% of eligible youth successfully received an expungement.

Arrests create a paper trial, and expunction is the process of destroying or sealing evidence of a person’s involvement with law enforcement and the court. It’s expected that each year the new law will automatically clear the records of more than 5,000 people who have records with law enforcement but weren’t convicted in juvenile court.

Arrested but not convicted

The new law applies only to people who were arrested as youths but not convicted. The law does not apply retroactively to people whose 18th birthday took place prior to 2022, though those people may still submit an application for their arrest records to be expunged. People convicted as youths may still apply for expungement under the existing application process.

Supporters say Youth Expunction Reform Act is a long-overdue attempt to simplify the expunction process. People unable to clear their records face challenges acquiring employment, housing, occupational licenses and entry into the military and college.

The youth reform act is one of many Legislative bills developed by the CJRC at Lewis & Clark Law School.

Efforts there have lately shifted to getting the word out about expunction. To reach young people, Kaplan said they’ve focused on schools. The CJRC, in partnership with the group Youth, Rights & Justice, is now holding clinics to assist youth with expunging their criminal records.

Prior to the new law, the county would often receive expunction applications from youth also attempting to enter the military, according to Community Justice director Deevy Holcomb.

“Sometimes, they’re applying simultaneously, and it puts us in a really weird spot, because once a record is expunged, that youth may legally assert it never occurred, and we don’t have the right to say if it did or didn’t,” Holcomb said.

Sgt. Kyle Conner of the Bend Marine recruiting office said he advises recruits to disclose everything. He tells them it’s a lesson he had to learn personally when he joined.

“I had a thing and not being very familiar with the military at the time, I didn’t think it’d pop up. And the recruiter found it,” he said. “So that’s one thing I tell everybody: even if you got it expunged, it definitely will still show up.”

It’s not uncommon that a recruit will have a blemish or two on his record, Conner said. Local Marine and Navy recruiters estimate around half the people they see have an arrest in their past. The Marines typically don’t take people with felonies on their record, though, ultimately, it comes down to the individual, Conner said.

Conner puts it to young people in terms of green and red weights. The green represents all the good things a person has done in their life — community service, good grades, etc. — and the red stands in for problems like arrests.

“We just want the green weights to outweigh the red weights,” he said.

In 2021, Oregon lawmakers passed numerous laws aimed at strengthening police oversight and rehabilitating offenders. Since the pandemic began, Gov. Kate Brown has granted released more than 1,000 inmates prior to their scheduled release date.

Former Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis, an outspoken supporter of law-and-order, said he’s watched state leaders pass sweeping changes he says most people are unaware of. He called the Oregon District Attorney’s Association, which declined to take a position on SB 575, “milquetoast,” and the law itself, a “catastrophe.” He thinks many people identify with a young person who slips up in minor ways, like stealing, while ignoring the those who commit heinous acts that permanently injure others.

He expects Oregon-based youth arrests will eventually stop showing up on federal background checks.

“There’s no accountability anymore,” he said.

“What if there are numerous allegations they’ve raped somebody, or that they’ve committed numerous acts of domestic violence? Should that really be hidden?”

Kaplan said these law changes reflect changing public opinion.

“They’re all indications that our society gets it,” she said. “I think there’s a much better understanding of how people can transform and rehabilitate and move on with their lives.”