Can a Teen Sexting Case Affect College or Registration?
TL;DR
Richard S. Sterger, founding attorney of Sterger Law Group, says the UC and Cal State systems and the Common App no longer ask about convictions, but private schools each set their own rules, and campus housing or code of conduct investigations may still bring the issue up. Most juvenile cases are sealed and will not affect job prospects. The exception is 290 sex registration, which can attach to a 707(b) offense, and how it works after California's 2023 move to county-based juvenile systems is still an open question.
- The UC and Cal State systems and the Common App have eliminated questions about whether an applicant has been convicted of something.
- Private schools such as Point Loma Nazarene and USD have more latitude, and each approaches the issue differently.
- Even after admission, a case can come up in campus housing decisions or code of conduct investigations that require disclosure. Because records are digitized, they never fully disappear.
- In most juvenile situations, the record is sealed and will not affect job prospects. The exception is 290 sex registration, which can attach to a 707(b) offense.
- California moved juvenile cases to a county-based system in 2023. How registration laws fit with the new SYTF secure track is still unresolved.
- College coaches weigh character as much as talent. Criminal charges or a distraction can put a scholarship at risk when other recruits could fill the spot.
Will a sexting accusation affect my teen's college admission?
Richard S. Sterger: Typically, they've eliminated asking whether a child has been convicted of something because in California, at least if you're looking at the UC and the Cal State system, those things have been eliminated. The Common App has eliminated those things as well. You're going to see differences in private schools.
You have to be very careful because there may not be something that deals with admissions. There could be something that comes out regarding housing because there's a heightened level of on-campus housing when they're placing people together. There's an added safety level, and so issues like this may come up in that context. This isn't going to get you kicked out of school, but it may change [your housing]. I don't know exactly how that's going to be handled.
In a UC or a San Diego State or a state school system, you're probably going to be fine. In a private school, they have a lot more latitude as to what they're going to do. And all of them are different. It's not that Cal State or UC schools couldn't do this. They have a policy, and so we know all those schools fit within that policy. A private school, a Point Loma Nazarene, USD, there's no private school commonality that we can go to. So each one of those would have a different way that they're approaching it.
These things can come out in code of conduct investigations and things like that where, even if you get in, you may at some point in time have to admit to it because whatever is being investigated requires that disclosure. So you're never free of these things. I know we talk a lot about sealed records, and we talk about expungements, and we talk about vacaturs of convictions. In this day and age, because everything's digitized, it never disappears. So these things are out there. They're just not asking you to disclose them, and they're not making decisions based on them.
Can a juvenile sexting case hurt my child's future job prospects?
Richard S. Sterger: It really depends. This is going to be very charge specific. In most juvenile situations, it's not going to affect the child's job prospects. It's going to be sealed. Now there are some exceptions to that. Even if it gets handled in the juvenile system, sex registration is something that could come up. So 290 registration on a 707(b) offense could carry registration requirements with it.
Could my teen have to register under Penal Code 290?
Richard S. Sterger: I hesitate on that because it's not a question that's been completely resolved under the new system. The old system was actually run by California Corrections. When we changed over to the new system in 2023, everything was put into this new community-based, county-based system. Some of the registration laws weren't directly changed with that, and that's still playing itself out because they used to attach to being released from corrections, and now they're not ever placed in corrections. Corrections is outside of this. Counties are operating these things. The new secure track, SYTF protocol, butts up against what would trigger registration. And so that's an open question.
290 is what governs sex registrants. It only applies to a limited number of crimes. It doesn't apply to all crimes. I give that hesitating answer because we're still working out this massive shift we made away from treating juveniles by sending them to little kiddie prisons. We've now moved them into the community, and some of the things are still being worked out of how it syncs, at least with respect to the 290 registration.
Can a sexting accusation cost my child an athletic scholarship?
Richard S. Sterger: Context is going to play a big role in this. And yes, we've seen it. We know that these things can follow kids. We have a kid who grew up here in San Diego who was an NFL punter at the time the allegations came out. And he lost his NFL job. Ultimately, I believe, it was determined that he wasn't involved with this, and he's back in the NFL now. So this stuff can affect you, and it can affect things like scholarships and jobs.
I had a kid that went all the way through. He played lacrosse. He went through the whole recruiting process. He ended up picking a school and playing lacrosse in college. He would have to go to these showcases and tournaments, and almost always, they would have a meet-the-coach session. One of the things that all the coaches say is, we look for character as much as we look for talent. And I think that that's a legitimate thing. So they always warned them, don't post dumb stuff on social media.
In the context of this, what you're posting about your girlfriend or your boyfriend could come back to be a real problem for you with respect to your coaches because it is going to go to the issue of character. And certainly, criminal charges being brought against you are always going to draw up questions about your character. I tend to look at kids in a different way: they make mistakes, and we want to figure out how we help them to learn from those mistakes.
This coach is trying to figure out who do I put on my team and how do I evaluate the character of six different guys that all want the spot and all have the talent. Sometimes character is going to be the thing. Sometimes the distraction or the lack of a distraction is going to be the thing that's going to help a coach make a decision. I don't know that from the legal perspective it has anything to do with it, but when you're competing at that level, there is talent out there. Unless you're the top guy in the country, you're going to be competing against other people that can fill that slot. If your behavior is something that's going to be viewed as a distraction, or your behavior indicates something about your character, I think you really are risking your scholarship opportunity. So it's not really a legal question there necessarily.
How can a teen show character after an accusation?
Richard S. Sterger: The way that somebody handles the situation that they get in oftentimes can be something that defines their character more than anything of the accusation. Character is something that is shown in many ways, and mistakes do not define character. How people handle their mistakes is what defines their character.
What is the goal when defending a teen in these cases?
Richard S. Sterger: Every parent understands you fight for kids. Once you're a parent, it's not even just about your kids that you fight for. You fight for all kids.
Not all the kids that I represent are sympathetic. Some kids can do bad things. But there's something about them being a kid that gives us the possibility that we have to fight to give them a chance to overcome this thing that they've done in their life. At least give them an opportunity. For a lot of people, they're only going to ever run up against the criminal justice system one time in their life. And the question is how much is it going to impact their life? I have that conversation all the time. My number one job is to get you through this with the least amount of impact that this will carry forward against your life. And that applies both to adults and to kids.
| School type | Asks about convictions? | How the issue is handled |
|---|---|---|
| UC and Cal State systems | Eliminated | Shared policy; applicants are probably going to be fine, though housing may be affected |
| Common App | Eliminated | Question removed from the application |
| Private schools (e.g., Point Loma Nazarene, USD) | Varies by school | More latitude; no common policy, so each school differs |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do UC and Cal State schools ask about juvenile convictions?
According to Richard S. Sterger, the UC and Cal State systems have eliminated those questions, and so has the Common App. He says applicants to those schools are probably going to be fine, though issues may still come up in campus housing decisions.
Do private colleges treat a sexting case the same way?
No. Sterger says private schools such as Point Loma Nazarene and USD have much more latitude, and because there is no common policy among them, each approaches the issue differently.
Will a juvenile sexting case show up when my child applies for jobs?
In most juvenile situations the record is sealed and will not affect job prospects. The exception Sterger identifies is 290 sex registration, which can attach to a 707(b) offense.
Is juvenile sex offender registration settled law in California?
Not entirely. Sterger explains that when California moved juvenile cases to a county-based system in 2023, some registration laws were not directly changed. How they fit with the new SYTF secure track is still an open question.
Can an accusation alone affect a scholarship?
It can. Sterger says coaches look for character as much as talent. Criminal charges or behavior seen as a distraction can put a scholarship at risk when other recruits could fill the spot.
Edited for length and clarity from a recorded conversation with Richard S. Sterger. Watch the full interview on YouTube.
