Juvenile and College Students: How Arrests and Expunctions Affect Your Future

Being arrested, charged, and convicted of a crime at any age is a scary thought, and can have a significant impact on your future and opportunities down the road. For young people though, being convicted of a crime can be especially damaging; a criminal conviction can significantly impair educational and learning opportunities, relationships, work and travel opportunities, and more. But did you know that even an arrest, not just a conviction, can be limiting?

At the law offices of Brent D. Bowen, Attorney at Law, we want to make sure that our young clients have the brightest future possible, which is why we always work hard to secure the best possible outcome for a case. Consider how an arrest and an expunction may affect your future–

How an Arrest Can Affect Your Future

As explained by The Wall Street Journal, an arrest can have a huge effect on a person’s record – an effect that has the potential to last a lifetime. In fact, over the past 20 years, authorities in the United States have made more than one billion arrests, and every day, between 10,000 and 12,000 new names are added to that list. The scary thing is that even when a person is never convicted of a crime, or even when charges are dropped, the arrest record doesn’t go away. In fact, an arrest record can be accessed by nearly anyone, and in Texas, an online database maintained by the state allows the public to search for arrest records of anyone over 17 years of age charged with a Class B misdemeanor or greater.

If you have been arrested, and your arrest record is viewed, this could affect your ability to:

• Attend or remain in college/university;
• Get a job;
• Secure housing;
• Volunteer;
• Get an internship;
• Open an account; and
• Get a loan.

How Can an Expunction Affect My Future?

If you have been arrested, you may be able to have this record expunged, which means that the information about the arrest will be permanently removed from your record. Records that may be eligible for expunction include:

• Arrests (if you were never charged with a crime);
• Criminal charges (if the charge was dismissed);
• Convictions of certain offenses (including certain alcohol offenses and juvenile offenses); and
• Conviction of a crime (that was later acquitted by a higher court or pardoned).

In other words, if you have been arrested but were never charged or were never convicted, or were convicted of certain offenses as a juvenile, you may be able to have this information removed from your criminal record. This can provide you with a clean slate, and a fresh opportunity, moving forward. A clean criminal/arrest record opens more doors.

Contact Our Law Offices Today

At the law offices of Brent D. Bowen, Attorney at Law, our experienced Texas criminal defense and expungement lawyer understands the fear and questions you may have. To learn more about how an arrest may affect your future, how to avoid conviction, and how to expunge a record, contact us today for a consultation.