Juvenile Records.  Juvenile court records are public unless sealed.  A juvenile court must schedule a hearing for all juvenile records that are not classified as a most serious offense, sex offense, or a drug offense, to take place after the latest of the following:

• the individual's 18th birthday;
• the individual's anticipated probation end date;
• the anticipated release from confinement; or
• anticipated probation completion.

 
In order to seal a juvenile record, the court must find that the juvenile has completed the full terms and conditions of the disposition, including affirmative conditions, and paid full restitution to any individual victim.
 
If not subject to regular sealing, a juvenile court record may be vacated and sealed by motion, provided that if the person was charged with a class A felony, the juvenile, or former juvenile, must meet certain requirements, including spending five consecutive years in the community without being convicted or adjudicated of a crime, not being required to register as a sex offender, and full payment of restitution.  Sealing by motion is not available to a person convicted of rape 1, rape 2, or indecent liberties with forcible compulsion.
 
Once a juvenile record is sealed, the proceedings in the case must be treated as if they never occurred.  Any subsequent criminal adjudication or adult felony charge unseals the case.
 
Access to Sealed Juvenile Records by Law Enforcement Agencies.  The Legislature passed SB5564 in 2015, which required the Washington State Patrol (WSP) to ensure the Washington State Identification System (WASIS) provides criminal justice agencies access to sealed juvenile record information.  WSP provides full access to WASIS, including sealed juvenile record information, to entities that apply for access that it deems to be law enforcement agencies or designates as certified criminal justice agencies, regardless of state, federal, or international jurisdiction.
 
Criminal justice agencies is defined under the Washington State Criminal Records Privacy Act to mean any court or government agency which performs the administration of criminal justice pursuant to statute or executive order which allocates a substantial part of its annual budget to the administration of criminal justice.  A 2015 list of certified criminal justice agencies granted full access to WASIS information by WSP includes 17 state agencies, including divisions of the Department of Social and Health Services, Department of Health, Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Liquor Control Board, and 22 federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
 
In 2020, the Legislature passed HB 2794, which required WSP to ensure that WASIS provides sealed juvenile record information to criminal justice agencies that are Washington State criminal justice agencies.  These agencies must not disclose information contained in sealed juvenile records access through WASIS or other means to third parties who are not Washington State criminal justice agencies.  This law became effective January 1, 2021.

Expunge.  Expunge means to destroy the applicable documents or data named in the expungement order so as to make it permanently irretrievable and erase or completely remove any direct connection of the case to the offender in any system maintained by any agency as named in the order.  Previous findings in an expunged case are considered vacated and non-existent.
 
Sealed Juvenile Records.  WSP must remove all records sealed prior to July 24, 2015, from the Washington State identification system and any other system maintained by WSP. The Washington State identification system provides Washington State criminal justice agencies access to sealed juvenile records information sealed after July 24, 2015.
 
Expungement Eligibility.  For previously sealed juvenile records, individuals may petition the superior court to destroy and expunge in its entirety, the official juvenile court file, the social file, and records of the court and of any other agency in any case in which a juvenile offender's record resides.  If the court finds all obligations have been completed, restitution has been paid in full, and no proceeding is pending seeking the conviction of a criminal offense, then the request is granted depending on the eligibility requirements, which include:

• the individual's offense history does not include a class A felony, a felony sex offense, or inclusion in the offender's score;
• if the individual's offense history includes two offender cases, an additional two years must have passed since the individual's case has not been subject to inclusion in their offender score; or
• if the individual's offense history includes more than two offender cases, an additional two years for each subsequence case must have passed since the individual's cases have not been subject to inclusion in their offender score.