Sealing A Juvenile Record
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.321 — closed by default, and an order to destroy and seal after the eighteenth birthday
Closed by default. Records of juvenile court proceedings, and the information and social records prepared for the court, are not open to inspection or disclosed except by court order to persons having a legitimate interest, subject to the exceptions in the section.
The most serious charges. The default does not hold where a petition is sustained charging the child with an offense that would be a class A felony if committed by an adult, or capital murder, first degree murder or second degree murder.
Felony adjudications. After a child is adjudicated delinquent for an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult, the records of the dispositional hearing and related proceedings are open to the public to the same extent as criminal records. Social summaries, presentence style investigations, and treatment status reports filed afterward stay confidential.
Police records. Peace officers' records of children are kept separate from the records of persons eighteen years of age or over, and are not open to inspection except by court order. That rule does not cover children transferred to adult court.
Destroy and seal. On its own motion, or on application by the child, the child's representative or the juvenile officer, the court may order destroyed all social histories, records and information other than the official court file, and may order the official court file and all peace officers' records sealed, at any time after the child's eighteenth birthday, if it finds that this is in the child's best interest.
A longer case. When the court's jurisdiction continues beyond the eighteenth birthday, the order may be made at any time after the child's case is closed.
Victims. General information about the informal adjustment or formal adjudication of the case may be released to a victim or a member of the victim's immediate family, without the location or duration of treatment or detention or the terms of supervision.
Adult records are closed or expunged under different sections, which are not on this page. Whether a particular record can be sealed is a question for the juvenile court, or a licensed Missouri attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.321 — Juvenile court records, confidentiality, exceptions — records of peace officers, exceptions, release of certain information to victim
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Missouri attorney.