§49-5-18 Sealing of juvenile records. - West Virginia Statutes

§49-5-18. Sealing of juvenile records.
(a) One year after the juvenile's eighteenth birthday, or one year after personal or juvenile jurisdiction has terminated, whichever is later, the records of a juvenile proceeding conducted under this chapter, including, but not limited to, law-enforcement files and records, shall be sealed by operation of law.

(b) The records of a juvenile proceeding in which a juvenile was transferred to criminal jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of section ten of this article shall be sealed by operation of law if the juvenile is subsequently acquitted or found guilty only of an offense other than an offense upon which the waiver or order of transfer was based, or if the offense upon which the waiver or order of transfer was based is subsequently dismissed.

(c) To seal juvenile records, they shall be returned to the circuit court in which the case was pending and be kept in a separate confidential file. The records shall be physically marked to show that they have been sealed and shall be securely sealed and filed in such a manner that no one can determine the identity of the juvenile.

(d) Sealed records may not be opened except upon order of the circuit court.

(e) Sealing of juvenile records has the legal effect of extinguishing the offense as if it never occurred.

(f) The records of a juvenile convicted under the criminal jurisdiction of the circuit court pursuant to subdivision (1), subsection (d), section ten of this article may not be sealed.

(g) Any person who willfully violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or confined in the county or regional jail for not more than six months, or both so fined and confined, and shall be liable for damages in the amount of three hundred dollars or actual damages, whichever is greater.