Juvenile Records Negatively Impact Mock‐Hiring Decisions: An Examination of the Mismatch Between Record Disclosure and Background Check

Abstract Many states have juvenile record sealing policies to allow formerly justice‐involved juveniles to successfully re‐enter society as adults. However, these policies are often not enforced consistently and transparently, creating inconsistencies between what the person discloses on a job application and what appears on their background check (i.e., a mismatch). We hypothesized that juvenile records would negatively influence hiring outcomes of adult applicants, especially when there was a mismatch between the background check and disclosure. We also hypothesized the effects would be worse for Black applicants. We used a mock‐hiring survey paradigm, where 1054 participants made a hiring decision about a job applicant. As expected, juvenile records negatively influenced hiring outcomes, especially when there was a mismatch. Applicants were less likely to be hired when their disclosure of their record did not match the background check. We did not find support for the effects being worse for Black applicants. These results indicate that it is important to have juvenile record sealing policies to promote successful re‐entry as adults and underline the importance of the policies being enforced transparently and consistently. Without transparent and consistent enforcement, these policies can backfire and cause more harm to the formerly justice‐involved juveniles.