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Minneapolis News
Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Hennepin County expands options to seal youth criminal records

The front of a court building
The Hennepin County Juvenile Justice Center in Minneapolis.
Ben Hovland | MPR News

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A new program in Hennepin County is making it easier for people convicted of crimes as kids to seal their records.

Through an online portal, applicants can ask the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to expunge their records, taking them out of public access.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that makes a big difference.

“Criminal records, even for minor cases, can follow youth forever and can impact their ability to further their education, seek employment, maintain stable housing and so much more,” Moriarty said. 

The office has accepted online expungement applications for adult records since 2020 in its prosecutor-led expungement program. In November, they started accepting applications for minor records, too. Moriarty said the office wanted to be sure it had the capacity to process all the applications before broadening it to youth. 

Not all offenses are eligible for expungement. Many felonies, including weapons cases, domestic violence and criminal sexual conduct, are excluded. But all misdemeanors and certain felonies are eligible, including fourth- and fifth-degree drug offenses and property cases.

Applicants also need to meet a waiting period requirement. For misdemeanor cases, that means going a year with no adjudication or conviction of other crimes; for felonies, the period is three years. 

Individuals can directly petition a court for expungement if they aren’t eligible for prosecutor-led expungement. In those cases, Moriarty said, prosecutors can still file a letter of agreement telling the court they don’t object to expungement. 

So far, Moriarty said, expunged cases have included a 27-year-old who was charged with felony drug possession at 15 and has never had an offense as an adult.

“We know that all children are capable of changing and evolving. A child should not be defined by a mistake, which is what we see in many of the cases eligible for expungement,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty said more than 800 people have applied to have youth records expunged since applications opened in November.

The program comes alongside statewide efforts to make expungement easier. Minnesota’s Clean Slate Law went into effect on Jan. 1; it automatically expunges certain nonviolent criminal records. In the past, anyone eligible had to petition the court for expungement.