In 1995 I was arrested and charged as a juvenile in Florida with a felony (wrong place wrong time long story). This was my first and only offense in my life. I completed a program and my records were expunged and sealed.

Since then I have been in the military for 13 years as well as had a DOD security clearance (SECRET). I am not going for a huge job promotion (Fed Bank) and they took my fingerprints for FBI clearance. I already passed a background check through a company named InfoMart (third party).

Will the FBI fingerprinting show my juvenile record? Can they not hire me based on offenses 17 years ago?

Thank you very much for the input.

Likely not. You weren't convicted of a federal crime and the records were expunged.

Can they not hire you, yes they can not hire you or even fire you if the application asked were you ever arrested. If this is a "at will" state, then can even fire you if the application said, were you ever convicted. Since acceptance of a first offender program is a guilty plea which is set aside latter if you complete the program but treated as a conviction if not completed.

First to clarify, FBI finderprinting only shows ID, it will compare your current name and ID info to any and every other Fingerprint on file to see if you were ever fingerprinted and if so under what name or names. ( many criminals use multiple names when arrested)
These are called alias.

What they do then, is they take all of the nams ever used in the Fingerprint files and run what is called a NCIC report ( has different names in different states, in GA for example it is a GCIC report) But it is that report that shows your criminal history.

You can run one on yourself by just going to most police departments and paying a small fee.

A sealed Juv record ( if done properly) will not show up on this report, in fact if you were charged as a JUV, and was in JUV court, not adult court, it is suppose to be sealed at 18 in the US anyway.

So the question here is, which court, were you in a JUV court, or were you in adult court just under 18,

Now next does this huge job require a high security clearance. And if so, to what level.


And to even follow it up, is the FBI and government background the one they are going to use, ( not any outside idependent background firm) Also is the Bank's HR department doing the background, or is it being done by the Federal Government Office of Personnel?)

I ask this, since at some Government levels, if this is a Government position, they actually send people ( in person) to talk to old neighbors, past school teachers, old friends of yours.

When I worked for the Feds, they found names of people I dated in college, even had pick up lines I used in college I had to explain because of some claims made in them. They knew about any late payment, bad check and so on. It took them over a year to complete it.

Next if they are not using a Government ( FBI, NCIC, or other official government) records check but using various private search companies, they are not bound by the rules to seal records, so if they ever got the conviction information into their data bases, it is available, and those are a by company by company example, some pick up data others do not.


So IF this was in Juv court, and they just do FBI standard background search, you are OK.
So IF this was in Adult court but the records were sealed, and they do FBI standard background search, you are OK.

So IF they do a outside third party background search ( private company) and that company never picked up your records. *** and they will not pick up Juv records normally, only adult court records. You are OK.

Can they find this, if they dig deep enough, yes of course.

At some very top levels of Government and even Private sector jobs, this is why they ask the question on applications, "were you ever arrested" not were you ever convicted.

So not knowing exactly how and what was done at the time of arrest, and not knowing exactly what court, or knowing this agency and exactly what background search they use, no one can give a 100 percent exact answer, just a maybe.

Do I think they will see a JUV sealed record, no they are not suppose to see it.


They reason at very high positions these background checks are so important, is for blackmail, lets say that someone you know from back then, finds out you have a high important job, and they know about your crime, They figure you never told them about the crime, so they come and tell you, that unless you do "so and so" they will give your bosses all of the info about your conviction, program and more so you will be fired.
Many people at that point, give in, they give the persons jobs ( if they can) or pay them money, or do other illegal acts to keep them quiet.

Of course as soon as they do something illegal, that person has even more on them, and it keeps going and going.

So IF this was in Juv court, and they just do FBI standard background search, you are OK.(YES)

So IF this was in Adult court but the records were sealed, and they do FBI standard background search, you are OK.(YES)

So IF they do a outside third party background search ( private company) and that company never picked up your records. *** and they will not pick up Juv records normally, only adult court records. You are OK. (YES THIS IS COMPLETE)

I think this answers my question. I already have DOD Office of personnel Management Secret level security clearance and that was much more in depth. My juvenile record never came up and I never outwardly admitted due to guidance from experts. I also passed a homeland security background check for my current job.

Just got very nervous when they took my fingerprints and said FBI.

Thank you for the help.

Yes that is about it, and yes you should be OK, and yes that is about how it works.