Juvenile Delinquency Records and Criminal Pretrial Release
Can court records of juvenile delinquency adjudications be used to determine conditions of pretrial release in criminal cases? This question has come up more frequently since the requirement to consider a criminal history report when determining conditions of pretrial release took effect in late 2025 as part of Iryna’s Law. S.L. 2025-93, sec. 1.(d). While juvenile adjudications of delinquency do not constitute criminal convictions, there are some situations in which a delinquency court record can be considered when determining conditions of pretrial release.
Criminal History and Prior Conviction Requirements Under Iryna’s Law
Iryna’s Law included two new provisions linking the determination of conditions of pretrial release in criminal matters to a person’s criminal history (Iryna’s Law contained many other provisions as well. For a full discussion of the pretrial release components of Iryna’s Law, see my colleague Brittany Bromell’s Administration of Justice Bulletin, Iryna’s Law and Pretrial Release). First, the judicial officer who is determining the conditions of pretrial release must direct the arresting law enforcement officer, a pretrial services program, or a district attorney to provide the defendant’s criminal history report and the judicial officer must consider the criminal history when setting conditions of pretrial release. G.S. 15A-534(c). Second, a judicial official authorizing pretrial release for a defendant who has been convicted of three or more Class 1 misdemeanors or higher offenses in separate sessions of court within the previous ten years must make written findings of fact applying statutory factors to explain why the conditions of release are appropriate. G.S. 15A-534(d).
Both of these provisions clearly reference criminal matters. Delinquency matters are not criminal in nature. The Supreme Court of North Carolina recognized this in 1969, stating about delinquency proceedings that “[w]hatever may be their proper classification, they certainly are not ‘criminal prosecutions.’ Nor is a finding of delinquency in a juvenile proceeding synonymous with ‘conviction of a crime.’” In re Burrus, 275 N.C. 517, 529 (1969). This law is now embedded in G.S. 7B-2412, which provides that an adjudication of delinquency must not “be considered conviction of any criminal offense.” Therefore, because these two provisions of Iryna’s Law are expressly about criminal history and convictions, they do not include adjudications of delinquency. Criminal history reports considered in the determination of conditions of pretrial release should not include adjudications of delinquency. A determination that a defendant had three qualifying convictions triggering the need for written findings when authorizing pretrial release should not include an adjudication of delinquency as a qualifying conviction.
Delinquency Adjudications as Other Evidence Relevant to Pretrial Release
While Iryna’s Law added the consideration of a criminal history report to the list of things that the judicial official must take into account when determining conditions of pretrial release, several other factors have long been mandatory considerations. G.S. 15A-534(c). This list ends with “any other evidence relevant to the issue of pretrial release.”
The law governing confidentiality of juvenile delinquency court records generally provides that the records are not public and, absent a court order, can only be examined and copied by the people listed in G.S. 7B-3000(b). The people listed include the juvenile or their attorney; the juvenile’s parent, guardian, or custodian or their authorized representative; the prosecutor; court counselors; and, in limited circumstances, probation officers in the Division of Community Supervision and Reentry of the Department of Corrections. Id.
The Juvenile Code also allows for limited use of a record of an adjudication of delinquency in some pretrial release decisions. G.S. 7B-3000(e). When information about an adjudication of delinquency is obtained pursuant to the general rule above, it can sometimes be used in pretrial release decisions. This is possible when:
- The defendant is charged in a criminal matter with committing a Class A1 misdemeanor or felony when they were under the age of 21;
- The adjudication of delinquency was for a Class A1 misdemeanor or felony; and
- The adjudication of delinquency occurred after the defendant reached age 13. Id.
When these circumstances are present, the record of the adjudication can be used by law enforcement, magistrates, the court, and prosecutors for pretrial release. If these circumstances are not all present, there is no legal authority for consideration of the record of the juvenile delinquency adjudication in pretrial release.
The juvenile court record includes the summons and petition, custody orders, electronic or mechanical recordings of hearings, and any written motions, orders, or papers filed in the proceeding. G.S. 7B-3000(a). It is important to note that the prosecutor has access to the court record under G.S. 7B-3000(b). Information about a defendant’s delinquency court history can therefore be obtained by the prosecutor though their right to access the juvenile court record. The information cannot be provided by a juvenile court counselor because the prosecutor is not entitled to the juvenile court counselor’s records absent a court order. G.S. 7B-3001(c).
The record of an adjudication, as allowed by G.S. 7B-3000(e), may be part of “other evidence relevant to the issue of pretrial release.” It is also possible that the record may include information related to some of the other factors that must be considered, such as family ties, character, and history of flight to avoid prosecution or failure to appear at a court proceeding. G.S. 15A-534(c).
If the record of an adjudication of delinquency is used for pretrial release purposes, the information must remain confidential and cannot be placed in any public record. G.S. 7B-3000(e). Judicial officials will therefore need to take care not to place a record of an adjudication of delinquency in findings made on a pretrial release order. Judicial officials may want to instead include language noting that other information allowed to be used in consideration of pretrial release and not allowed to be included in the court order was also considered.
Defendants Currently on Probation
The pretrial release law also requires that when a defendant is charged with a felony that is not a violent offense and the defendant is currently “on probation for a prior offense,” the judicial official must 1) determine if the defendant poses a danger to the public prior to imposing conditions of pretrial release and 2) record that determination in writing. 15A-534(d2). This raises two questions regarding the impact of a juvenile adjudication of delinquency. First, does the phrase “currently on probation for a prior offense” include a defendant who is on probation through a juvenile disposition? Because juvenile jurisdiction can last until a juvenile who commits an offense at age 16 turns 19 or until a juvenile who commits an offense at age 17 turns 20 (G.S. 7B-1601(b1)), it is common to have people who are ages 18 and 19 on juvenile probation. If those people commit a new offense, the new offense will be processed as a criminal matter and G.S. 15A-534 will apply to them.
The statute does not offer a clear answer as to whether a defendant would be considered to be “on probation for a prior offense” if they are on juvenile probation. Unlike the use of the terms “criminal history” and “conviction” in the statutory provisions added by Iryna’s Law and discussed above, the terms “probation” and “offense” are both used in the Juvenile Code. For example, in choosing among the statutorily permissible dispositions in a delinquency matter, one of the factors the court must consider is the “seriousness of the offense.” G.S. 7B-2501(c)(1). Additionally, one of the allowable dispositional alternatives for Level 1 and Level 2 delinquency dispositions is “[p]lace the juvenile on probation under the supervision of a juvenile court counselor, as specified in G.S. 7B-2510.” G.S. 7B-2506(8). Because there is no distinction between adult and juvenile probation in the language of G.S. 15A-534(d2), it appears that one could read “on probation for a prior offense” as including on juvenile probation for an adjudication of delinquency. If read this way, the fact that a defendant is on juvenile probation can only be used in pretrial release under the authority in G.S. 7B-3000(e). Therefore, the fact of being on juvenile probation could only be used when the defendant is charged with a Class A1 or higher offense and the adjudication of delinquency was for a Class A1 or higher misdemeanor when the defendant was age 13 or older. It is also conceivable that the narrow authorization for use of a record of an adjudication of delinquency contained in G.S. 7B-3000(e) and the language of G.S. 15A-534 that generally refers to criminal matters (and fails to expressly refer to juvenile matters) suggest that the pretrial release considerations relate to criminal and not juvenile probation.
The language of G.S. 15A-534(d2) raises a second question regarding whether the record of an adjudication of delinquency can inform the required determination of whether the defendant poses a danger to the public. The narrow ability provided in G.S. 7B-3000(e) to use a record of adjudication in relation to pretrial release under some circumstances, as described above, likely allows for consideration of the adjudication record in the determination of dangerousness when the requirements of G.S. 7B-3000(e) are met. Here again, judicial officials must be careful not to include information about the record of adjudication in their written orders. The juvenile record must remain confidential and cannot be placed in any public record, including an order issued in a criminal proceeding. G.S. 7B-3000(e).
Cliff Notes
When assessing whether a juvenile record can be used when determining conditions of pretrial release, there are two important themes to remember.
- Juvenile adjudications are not criminal in nature. They are not convictions and they are not part of a criminal history.
- In narrow circumstances, for defendants who are under 21 at the time of a Class A1 or higher offense and who were adjudicated delinquent for a Class A1 or higher offense after they turned 13, the record of adjudication can be used when making pretrial release decisions. However, that juvenile record must remain confidential and cannot be placed in any public record.
