>Shit, for that matter your adult records can be sealed or
>expunged depending on the offense and jurisdiction.

pretty huge risk to take considering when we call the police on a person we don't usually know what's in their criminal history so we don't know if they're eligible to have any conviction expunged (typically a person can only have an entry on their criminal history expunged if they have no convictions). also we don't know what charge a prosecutor is likely to file so we don't know if they'll be able to expunge whatever comes of our calling the police.

>There exists in many jurisdictions a program called pre-trial
>diversion for juveniles (which in some cases extends all the
>way to the age of 21).

we don't know if the jurisdiction at issue has such a program or whether the kid at issue is eligible for the program or whether the kid will be accepted into said program should it exist.

Basically, you get hemmed up on a
>charge, it's your first offense, the court sets it aside until
>you complete a probation-like period. If you complete it
>without any further run-ins with he law it's either expunged
>from your record or sealed indefinitely.

yes and those programs are often fairly difficult to complete as they may require the kid to complete several obligations that can be onerous given the kid's situation. like maybe the parents have to take time off work to drive the kid to community service obligations. or maybe the parent doesn't drive at all. or maybe the community service locations are limited and there's a waiting list. or maybe there are fees assessed and the kid and/or the parents can't afford it. or maybe the kid is assigned an unreasonable probation officer. i can go on and on b/c i have experience w/cases like this and i've seen multiple ways kids and adults fail to complete probation successfully and end up having their sentence revoked.

>Shit, you can catch a real case as an adult and have similar
>shit happen. I've seen cats catch DV cases, drug offenses, etc
>and because it was their first offense the judge set it aside,
>gave them some shit to do (i.e. counseling classes), and gave
>'em 6 months to a year to stay out of trouble and the charges
>would be dropped completely.

that outcome is exceedingly rare. again, i have experience representing hundreds of clients charged w/offenses like the ones you listed and several others. they almost never receive the outcome you mentioned.

all of this is why i keep saying we should use arrests and criminal charges as the last resort when it comes to dealing w/school-related bad behavior in kids. there are times when kids should be arrested by police for school-related bad behavior but those times are also exceedingly rare IMO and i worry that we're sending kids through the criminal justice system for school-related bad behavior more often than we should. instead i'd like to see us use other methods that can teach kids the lessons they need and correct their behavior w/o exposing them to risk of such serious consequence. i prefer if schools function as a safe space for kids to be themselves - even when they behave badly - w/o facing real-world consequences except in extreme circumstances.