DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Two legal experts are recommending the court records of Iowa’s convicted juveniles be confidential and unavailable to the public. Jerry Foxhoven, the executive director of the Neal & Bea Smith Legal Clinic, and Mike Sorci, head of the Youth Law Center in Des Moines, met Wednesday with a state task force studying justice policy reform. The group is expected to make recommendations within the next month on reforms in a variety of areas, including juvenile court records.

The Des Moines Register reports that the men said confidential juvenile court records would help young people who have completed probation turn their lives around. Both of them recommended changing state law so juvenile court records remain confidential unless a judge orders them to be public.