Their Juvenile Records Were Supposed To Be Sealed. The NYPD Accessed Them Anyway.

New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers are illegally accessing sealed juvenile arrest records, according to a recently filed class-action lawsuit. According to the suit, officers have been obtaining these sealed records in violation of New York state law and have even gone so far as giving those records to prosecutors. 

In New York, several provisions of state law (often called the “youth sealing statutes”) require that when a minor’s arrest results in a “favorable” result—meaning that there was a decision not to prosecute the case, or it was dismissed or otherwise withdrawn—the youth’s arrest records be sealed. This sealing is wide-reaching, preventing not just everyday members of the public but also any “public or private agency” from obtaining the records, according to the suit. Only a court order can allow someone to access these arrest records.

“The law provides no exception for the NYPD to access, use, or disclose Sealed Youth Records—including records it created—for law enforcement purposes or for any other purpose absent a court order,” the complaint reads. “Yet, the NYPD has engaged (and continues to engage) in a longstanding practice of illegally accessing, using, and disclosing Sealed Youth Records.”

The suit names three plaintiffs whose records were allegedly illegally disclosed by the NYPD. One plaintiff says that after she was stopped by an NYPD officer in a Brooklyn subway station, her sealed juvenile arrest record showed up on a search on the officer’s mobile device. The officer allegedly questioned her about her arrest. The other plaintiffs claim their juvenile arrest records were given to prosecuting attorneys after further arrests.

This practice of violating New York law has meant that “thousands of New Yorkers have had their rights violated, in just these recent years,” according to the lawsuit. “The NYPD uses sealed arrest-related information, including Sealed Youth Records, to make a number of law enforcement decisions, including whether to arrest a person, and, upon information and belief, deciding whether to treat someone as a ‘recidivist,’ whether a person is affiliated with a gang, and whether someone is a potential suspect in a crime.”

According to the complaint, lawmakers were motivated to mandate the sealing of many juvenile arrests because of concerns over how the stigma of a past arrest could affect young adults. However, the NYPD’s practices are contravening that purpose. 

“I’ve worked with a lot of adults who have juvenile records,” Emma-Lee Clinger, an attorney with The Legal Aid Society, which is representing the plaintiffs in the case, told The Imprint this week. “And every single one of them carries this weight of the stigma of their prior arrest and the fear that it’s still hanging over their heads.”

“At the heart of the Youth Sealing Statutes is the intention to prevent the ‘devasting [sic] prejudice’ that may arise from any person or agency accessing Sealed Youth Records,” the suit argues. “An arrested juvenile should not suffer stigma based on allegations that are not sustained in a court of law or where a court determines that records should be sealed.”

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