Mochel champions expungement, helping children

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Robert Mochel had a good idea at a young age that he wanted to help kids. He just didn’t always know he would be doing it with the law.

Mochel is an assistant state public defender working in the Milwaukee Juvenile and Mental Health office. He represents young people in cases involving juvenile crimes, child neglect and abuse, and the termination of parental rights, among other things.

It was while he was still quite young that Mochel became interested in working with children.

“When I was in high school, and even before, I did a lot of volunteer work with kids with special needs,” he said. “I really like … the helping nature of that.”

Mochel signed on as an assistant public defender after being admitted to the State Bar in 2012. In his short time at the state public defender’s office, he has already contributed to a system that helps inform juveniles of the possibility and benefits of expungement.

Sally Barrientes, who worked with Mochel on the project, said kids must wait until they are 17 to try to have their criminal records expunged. The age limit means that many of the children who come through the Milwaukee Juvenile and Mental Health office have several years to wait. By the time they are of age, many forget about the expungement option.

Barrientes said her counterparts in the district attorney’s office didn’t see this as much of a cause for concern as did she and Mochel.

“So we wanted to try to figure out how we can better find and better track these children,” Barrientes said. “The program is intended to encourage juveniles to go through the expungement process by providing them with information and reminding them that the option is there.”

Mochel acknowledged that the juvenile cases he handles can take an emotional toll. Not to mention, juvenile crimes often draw a lot of public attention.

“If you turn on the news in Milwaukee right now you see a lot of juvenile crime,” he said. “There’s a lot going on a daily basis, and if you look at it systemically it could be overwhelming.”

Mochel has also witnessed the good that can come from being a mentor to children. He even worked with the Big Brother Big Sisters organization to take one of them under his wing.

Mochel said he is now a “Big Brother” to a young man whom the public defender’s office could not link up with another mentor.

“He’s very much continuing to grow as a young man,” Mochel said. “We’ve seen progress in both school and social relationships.”