Juvenile Records and Expungement in Georgia

Georgia law does not use the term “expungement” for juvenile records. Instead, O.C.G.A. §§ 15-11-700 through 15-11-710 establish a process for sealing juvenile court files and records, and the path to sealing depends heavily on how the underlying case was resolved.

Juvenile Records Are Confidential by Default

Article 9 of Georgia’s juvenile code establishes that juvenile court records are confidential as a general matter. Hearings may be closed to the public, and records are not freely accessible in the way many adult court records are, reflecting the juvenile system’s general orientation toward rehabilitation and limiting the long-term exposure of a young person’s involvement with the court.

Automatic Sealing After Dismissal or Informal Resolution

When a juvenile petition is dismissed, or when a case is resolved through informal adjustment, mediation, or another nonadjudicatory procedure, O.C.G.A. § 15-11-701(a) requires the court to order the sealing of the files and records in that case automatically. No petition from the individual is required in this situation; the sealing happens as a function of how the case concluded.

Petition-Based Sealing After Adjudication

When a case results in an actual adjudication, meaning a finding that the child committed a delinquent act or is a child in need of services, sealing does not happen automatically. Instead, the individual may petition the court for sealing after a hearing, but only once two conditions are met: at least two years must have elapsed since final discharge from the case, and since that discharge, the person must not have been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, and must not have been adjudicated for any delinquent act, with no such proceeding currently pending.

What Sealing Actually Does

Once a juvenile record is sealed, the underlying proceeding is treated as though it never occurred. References to the case are removed from indexes, and the individual, the court, law enforcement agencies, and other relevant agencies may respond that no record exists when asked about the matter. This is a significant legal effect, but it is important to understand precisely what it means.

Sealing Is Not Absolute

Despite the “treated as if it never occurred” standard, sealed juvenile records are not entirely inaccessible under all circumstances. A court may permit inspection of sealed records upon petition by the subject of the record, and criminal justice officials may separately petition the court for access to a sealed record for official judicial or criminal justice purposes. This means sealing is best understood as a strong default protection rather than a guarantee that the record can never be accessed by anyone, for any reason, again.

Separate Records for Juveniles and Adults

O.C.G.A. § 15-11-708 requires law enforcement agencies to maintain juvenile records separately from adult criminal records, and it limits how fingerprint information collected in connection with a juvenile case may be accessed. This separation reinforces the confidentiality framework that runs throughout Article 9.

Why the Terminology Matters

Many people search for juvenile expungement in Georgia without realizing that the state’s actual legal mechanism is sealing, not expungement, and that the specific path to sealing depends entirely on how the underlying case was resolved. A dismissed or informally resolved case is sealed automatically, while an adjudicated case requires an affirmative petition after a waiting period and a clean record. Understanding this distinction, along with the limits on what sealing actually guarantees, is essential to understanding how juvenile records function under Georgia law. This page addresses the sealing framework itself rather than separate processes like adult record restriction or diversion program outcomes, which are governed by different statutes.

This article provides general information about Georgia law and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed Georgia attorney about a specific situation.