Kansas Big Brothers and Big Sisters will be hosting a free Juvenile Expungement Clinic Saturday, July 16 in Wichita from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. and from 4 - 7 p.m. at 310 East Second Street.

In order to qualify for the event, applicants must be between the ages of 16 and 24 and "have had some type of contact with the juvenile justice system," but applicants cannot have any adult convictions. The event is in conjunction with the BBBS' FACE FORWARD program and will provide free legal services to youth in order to help them through the diversion or expungement process.

In addition, the FACE FORWARD program is a component of their Positive Pathways Program (P3) which is intended to provide support and guidance needed "in order to be successful and prevent future juvenile justice involvement," so anyone who gets involved in the FACE FORWARD expungement program will also have access to the supportive services available through the P3 programming.

These supportive services include mentoring, employment, workforce activities, service learning, continuing education opportunities, coordinated case management and training leading to recognized credentials.

An expungement is the removal of an arrest or conviction from a person's criminal record. When a person gets their record expunged, no information relating to the arrest or conviction may be disclosed. Arrest records, criminal convictions and juvenile adjudications can all be expunged in Kansas.

In the case of juvenile adjudications, most can be expunged so long as the juvenile has reached the age of 23 or it has been two years since the sentence was completed and there are no pending criminal cases and so long as the circumstances and behavior of the juvenile warrant expungement. Juvenile adjudications that cannot be expunged include: murder, manslaughter, rape, indecent liberties, criminal sodomy, indecent solicitation, sexual exploitation, aggravated incest, endangering a child and abuse of a child.

Once a record is expunged, it is treated as though it never existed in generally you would not be required to disclose the existence of the record to others. However, the record will not be destroyed. The following individuals would still have the ability to learn of the record: a private detective agency or private patrol operator, if the request is made in conjunction with application for employment; a court, upon showing you have been convicted of a subsequent offense; the secretary of social rehabilitation services, to obtain information related to your employment within an institution of the department of social and rehabilitation services; a person entitled to information about your record pursuant to the terms of the expungement order; the Kansas lottery, if the request is made in conjunction with your application for employment with the Kansas lottery; the governor of the Kansas racing commission or a designee of the commission if the request made to determine your qualifications for executive director of the commission, for employment with the commission, for work in sensitive areas in parimutuel racing, or for licensure, renewal of licensure or continued licensure by the commission; and the Kanas sentencing commission.

According to Brittany Waldman, recruiter and events coordinator with Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters, representatives from Kansas Legal Services will be present at the event in Wichita and available to answer questions. For more information, contact Waldman at (316) 290-8866 or bwaldman@kansasbigs.org.