The case for expungement

Statistics show that most crimes are committed by young people; and when it comes to violent crimes, rarely by older persons.

Criminologists have a variety of explanations for this phenomenon but they generally agree: The vast majority of violent crimes are committed by young people.

Aside from the roots of the problem, there is also serious, long-term damage caused to young criminals that has no effect on deterring crime: crimes they commit when they are young stay on the criminal record long after punishment.

In some cases, that’s unfortunate. Criminal expungements — by which a person petiti...