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I started my legal career at the Chemung County District Attorney’s Office where I prosecuted crimes against women and children, (and just happened meet my wonderful hubby).
Today I received an inquiry from WETM’s Law Talk regarding youthful offender adjudication. The inquiry read:
I am curious about my Youth Offender status. I made a stupid mistake and got arrested..small misdemeanor charge, nothing serious…anyways I spent a couple of hours in jail and went to court the next morning. Since it was my first offense I was put as a Youth Offender and they said it would not be put on my record or “replacing an actual conviction” if I stay out of trouble of course for certain period of time. Now I called the courthouse and was told my record is “clean” and will remain clean until for that period of time until they throw it out when the time comes. I also called the Sheriff’s office where I was arrested and they said my arrest record along with the court record is sealed and will be thrown out when I finish my unwatched probation.
I had a background check done on me and nothing shows up…and I was also told that even though I was fingerprinted they will not send my fingerprints to the FBI because again my record is still considered clean. I understand I can still have this put on my record if I mess up.
I just want verify if this is the case..I don’t want it sent up to the FBI and I want to know what’s your say on this. Is this basically a 2nd chance for me not to mess up? How certain is it that they will throw it out if I complete my probation? Is there a certain law that applies with Youth Offenders?
This gave me a good chance to wade through the cobwebs in my noggin and think about Criminal Law for a few minutes. I responded:
You are correct. Unless you have something unrelated to this on your record, your record is clean.
New York State Law essentially allows young people under 18 who are charged with a misdemeanor a free pass the first time they get into trouble. In other words, the misdemeanor conviction for a person age 18 or younger is replaced with “Youthful Offender Status” and the person’s record remains clear.
The law makes the replacement of a misdemeanor conviction with YO mandatory (called “mandatory YO”) for all people under 18 if that person has not been convicted (i.e. has not received YO in the past), though it may not apply to some misdemeanor sex crimes. I am not sure. A judge generally has discretion to grant YO (called “discretionary YO”) to any person under 18 regardless of the person’s past criminal history, though most judges do so very rarely.
My guess is you plead guilty to the misdemeanor and were granted mandatory YO and a conditional discharge or probation, meaning if you stay out of trouble for one year from the time you plead guilty the court will lose jurisdiction to resentence you. If you get into trouble, the judge can bring you back into court and impose a greater sentence (jail, probation, etc), but, with respect to this charge, you should always be mandatory YO.
The bottom line is if what you say is true, your record is squeaky clean and you should not have any problems. Keep in mind most background checks ask if you have ever been “convicted” of a crime. The answer for you is no – YO is NOT a conviction. But, be careful of the wording in the background check. It may ask if you have ever been “arrested”, in which case you would have to say yes.
Thanks for reading,
Christina
_________________________________
Christina Bruner Sonsire, Esq.
NY & PA Injury & Malpractice Lawyer
Ziff Law Firm, LLP
303 William Street
Elmira, New York 14902-1338
csonsire@zifflaw.com
Office: 607.733.8866
Toll-Free: 800.ZIFFLAW (943.3529)
Web: zifflaw.com
Blog: NYInjuryLawBlog.com
I live in PA and have for 23 years. 30 years ago, I was 16 and committed a felony. I was adjudicated a YO and spent a year in prison. I cleaned up my life, married, moved to PA, finished college and became a teacher. Now teaching in PA requires an FBI records check, and there’s my conviction and incarceration. How do I say “no,” on the application, when the record shows a glaring “Yes!” ??
Thanks,
Allie
Allie – did you live in NY at the time you were granted the YO adjudication? If so, you can honestly answer “no” because technically, you weren’t convicted of a felony. The YO adjudication replaces the felony conviction, and if the State of NY or FBI issues a report in response to a request for your criminal history, it should not show a conviction. This is not to say that the school won’t find out about it, because that may very well happen, but an adjudication of YO based on a felony charge does not mean you were convicted of a felony.
Similar question, but how would I answer:
“Have you ever been found guilty after trial, or pleaded guilty, no contest, or nolo contendere to a crime (felony or misdemeanor) in any court?
I have a question too. I am applying for medical licensure in NY and also out of state, and I know I will need to be fingerprinted. Can I answer “no” to the conviction question knowing my fingerprints/sealed record are still somewhere on file? Will my fingerprints pull up a “sealed record” notification? (I.e. Will they think I lied)?
I am a Y.O wondering how to answer this question:
Have you ever been found guilty after trial, or pleaded guilty, no contest, or nolo contendere to a crime (felony or misdemeanor) in any court?
Wow — tough question! In many ways it turns on who is asking. New York State has very strict confidentiality laws to protect young people who have been convicted of crimes. However, not every state — or the federal government — is so generous.
The bottom line is that if you are a Y.O. this conviction is NOT a part of your criminal history. However, the way the question is worded lends me to think the best route is to disclose. If the questioner is not from New York state you should also include a sentence or two explaining that you were granted Y.O. and what Y.O. status means. (Feel free to cute and paste from my post!)
-Christina Bruner Sonsire
If you were granted Y.O. status you are NOT lying by stating you have never been convicted of a crime. That is the gist of Y.O. — it actually replaces the conviction with Y.O. adjudication.
However, see my answer above. Read the question carefully. If it simply asks whether you have been convicted, the answer is no. If it uses tricky language you may to need weight the harm a more developed answer may cause v. answering no but having someone feel you were dodging.
If you want, please tell me exactly what the question asks. I will be able to give you more specific advice.
-Christina Bruner Sonsire
Hi Folks, I was adjudicated as a youthful offender when I was 17 for a class A misdemeanor charge in New York. I was originally sentenced to 3 years of probation but it was cut down to 1.5 years for good compliance. I don’t have any prior criminal history and the offense was non violent in nature. I was told that the youthful offender adjudication is not a conviction and is sealed but law enforcement would still have access to it. Now 7 years have gone by and am looking to get a rifle in my state. I read that a person who was convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence would be barred from receiving a rifle or pistol permit. Since this was a Youthful offender for a non violent misdemeanor offense, would I have a problem getting a rifle since the a YO does not fall into the category of person who is not in good moral character. The form required to get a rifle from a federal firearm dealer is atf form 4473 and a NICS check must be done. Would I need to disclose it. Thank you
Jason – you are correct – a YO adjudication is not a conviction – it replaces the conviction, and is supposed to be sealed. But you are right – law enforcement will have access to it. When they run a criminal history check, it may still show up – I know that if it is run in NYS, the YO adjudication WILL show up on your criminal history – but that info is coming from the NY sources. I do NOT know whether the NY YO adjudication would show up on a criminal history run in another state – as that other state would only get the info that NY or the FBI provides (a copy of all fingerprints and disposition data is provided to the FBI as well). My recommendation is that you tell the truth – you have NOT been convicted of a crime in NYS. The criminal history may seem to indicate otherwise, but that is something you will have to deal with after the history is run. By the way – according to the info you provided, unless the misdemeanor charge was a domestic violence charge, the conviction wouldn’t preclude you from owning a rifle anyway.
Please let us know how this turns out!
Hi thank you for the prompt response. I was looking into the issue further and found out that for a rifle since its not a concealed weapon, in my jurisdiction no permit is requested. However, in order to purchase a long gun, one would have to go to a licensed firearm dealer and to process the transaction an NICS background check needs to be performed. Now since this was a youthful offender charge of a non violent misdemeanor, I know that I am not a prohibited person (1: youthful offender is not a criminal conviction, 2: misdemeanor convictions would only preclude a person from the right to bear arms if they are domestic violence, or having a felony conviction) My disposition does not fit into either of these three categories which I would hope to believe that the fbi NICS check would not be a problem. Also the youthful offender status pursuant to cpl 720.35 states that its not a disqualification for public or private employment or to receive any license granted by public authority. This would like me to believe that it shouldn’t show up on a consumer report background check as well. Would there be anyway to perform a pre employment background check on myself using a reputable online company to give myself peace of mind. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.
Thank you for the quick response. There is also one interesting question that I came across which is on a nys educational licensing application. The question reads as follows (“Have you ever been found guilty after trial, or pleaded guilty, no contest, or nolo contendere to a crime (felony or
misdemeanor) in any court? To get a youthful offender, I know that you originally have to plead guilty but then at sentencing the conviction is vacated. Now most questions ask whether you have been convicted which for a youthful offender you can truthfully answer no. I am a bit confused about this question, but I read the youthful offender statute saying that a YO is a disqualification for any a license granted by public authority (cpl 720.30) For answering a question would it be reasonable to answer no since there is ultimately no conviction with a YO. I appreciate the input, thank you
Sorry I meant to say that according to youthful offender is not a disqualification for any public or private employment or to receive any license granted by public authority. which is listed in the statute. Therefore, I think it would be reasonable to answer no to that question, Have you ever been found guilty after trial, or pleaded guilty, no contest, or nolo contendere to a crime (felony or
misdemeanor) in any court? My bad on the typo in the original post. Thanks again
Jason – you could try doing your own background check, but I have no idea whether it would contain all the information an NCIS check would reveal.
Jason – I believe your interpretation to be correct