THE THEORETICAL LOGIC AND SYSTEMATIC CONSTRUCTION OF THE JUVENILE CRIMINAL RECORD EXPUNGEMENT SYSTEM

The label of a previous criminal record severely impedes the resocialization process of juvenile offenders. To counteract this negative effect, establishing a system for the elimination of minors' previous criminal records has emerged as a prevalent trend in the international community and a widely shared social consensus. This system serves as special protection for minors' rights and interests and is an inevitable requirement for promoting the construction of criminal integration. Although current Chinese laws have already established the exemption of minors from the obligation to report previous criminal records and the system for sealing criminal records, a genuine system for eliminating minors' previous criminal records has yet to be established. In judicial practice, it still confronts numerous challenges, including ambiguous regulations on the methods of elimination, a narrow scope of application, and unclear stipulations regarding the probation period for elimination. Thus, guided by the principle of legality of crimes and punishments, a systematic construction of this system should be implemented to effectively safeguard minors' rights to reintegrate into society.