I am 16 in NY

Do I have a criminal record If I was arrested and charged but the case was dismissed and sealed?

Will it appear on a background check?
Can/will it negatively impact my employment chances with the financial industry?

Can financial institutions penetrate sealed records?

Are there any further actions I can take to make sure it does not appear on a background check?

Like expungement or something, but someone told me you can't expunge a record(criminal) that does not exist

Does that mean I do not have a criminal record?
What about the arrest record concerning this case?
Can it be sealed or expunged?

If you seal or expunge your record it will not show up as a charge on background searches, however, the arrest will always show up. If the charges were dropped, it will state that they were dropped but it will always show that you were arrested for that cause originally.

If this was a juvenile record and was sealed it will not show up on a normal background check. Generally a normal background check will only show convictions, not arrests. The police would know of the arrest, but a background check wouldn't reveal it, unless it was a very in depth check.

Well that's what Im worried of then, if my future employers( hopefully financial institutions)
Order a very in-depth check that reveals the arrest

Can the arrest record ever be sealed?

And how do I know that all my records (NYS, DA's office, NYPD, NYC, etc.) are truly sealed?

You can ask for the record to be expunged. But its unlikely that anyone other than a government agency would do so thorough a check.

Well scottgem, as a fellow NYS resident, I have asked around to find out the verdict to whether records can be expunged in NYS

The first person I asked was the Queens county crim court clerk, who told me that criminal records are not permitted to be expunged in NYS if they are misdemeanor or felony convictions

Also, I have looked online and I have found evidence supporting both sides of the issue
My question is, is there anything to expunge if I was never convicted of anything?

Is a dismissal and a sealing good enough?
What about arrest records? Are they sealed along with the court records?

And also, as you may know, financial institutions are amongst the few categories of employers that may look through your criminal record ( along with teacher positions, law enforcement, etc.), although I am not sure whether they can look at sealed records without a court order

And what is stopping an employer from obtaining a court order to look at my sealed records, if they do a thorough background check and see something like

06/09- Dismissed and Sealed

Wouldn't they think something is up
Isn't it infinitely more preferable to have an impeccable record, producing a result: "no record found"

Or is that the answer that would return in a background check since my record is sealed?

Edit: how do I know if it was a juvenile case?

True, I was charged when I was 16 years old, but people 16 years old and older are susceptible to being arrested anyway, and I didn't get the case heard in criminal court; it was heard in queens county criminal court.

The court also heard many adults' cases, so I am not sure anymore.

If it was sealed it was a juvy.

Well NYS also has a Criminal procedure law titled 160.50 where cases terminated in the defendant's favor will be sealed

ACD, dismissal, acquittal, etc.

OK, on the "government" search of records ** your NCIC records** the arreest will never show up to the publc and if the case was dismissed, then the arrest means nothing, since you were not convicted.
Now if the dismissal was part of a pre-sentence arrangement then that may show up as such but again only to law enforcementand to national security job searches.

The things is, that merely being arrested is not a "record" since lots of people who are not guilty get arrested and then changes dismissed.

Now here is where an issue is, if that record has gotten into a private background search computer record, there is no seal, no explunging of that record, since it is a private company that has those records. And thus the issue, a lot of companies use private search companies that search lots of internet and data bases for info that would be sealed in the real government records.

What do you mean a pre-sentence arrangement?

The judge didn't even ask for a plea(maybe due to my age)

Gave me an ACD(adjournment in contemplation of dismissal in NYS)
2 months later I went back and asked her to seal it early so she did, now its sealed

How would a private company get their hands on a juvenile record (if it is indeed a juvenile record)/ sealed record (if it is indeed sealed)

And say an employer does a background search with a private company and finds something. What can I do to get the private companies to update their info with the "real government records"?