Five hundred young adults in Broward County may soon wake up to clean criminal records if the County Commission gives the go-ahead at its meeting Tuesday afternoon.
These kids are first-time, non-violent offenders who were eligible for the Civil Citation Program for Juveniles but were instead arrested and slapped with a misdemeanor.
The program is an opportunity to look at the source of the trouble-making and engage with other kids in similar situations. At the completion of the program, no mention is ever made on the kid’s record.
Only three out of four of these kids were offered this option between 2011 and 2013, though. To some, the move is a step toward setting the record straight.
“[Having a record] can affect their school records, it can affect their military service," says Regina Walker, Civil Citation Program director in Broward County. "So we want to be able to try and correct an error because they were in fact eligible."
Why 500? According to Walker, that’s what the county is willing to pay for right now. It costs about $84 per record to wash it clean.
