Well, an older thread but the OP asked if anyone gets turned down.
Well I did! I'm 55 years old, an average guy and fly a few times a year internationally and thought it would be a good thing to have just to speed up things at customs. So I filled out the online application and carefully listed the countries I have visited and submitted the application. I waited only a few days and got the preliminary approval and made an appointment to go to IAH for my interview. I watched the video and sat down and the agent asked, "Have you ever been arrested?" "No", I answered. "Are you sure?" he asked. I thought for a minute of the few traffic stops in my lifetime of driving but really drew a blank. "I sure don't remember it if I was!" I said. "Well, your record says you were arrested in 1973 when you were 17 years old." he replied.
Wow, it hit me like knock in the head but I had been arrested and it was so long ago and settled that I really had put it out of my mind altogether! I was 17 and was active in learning photography and our high school had a darkroom and an after school non credit course but the teacher with the key was always hard to find. Then one day a friend said he had a copy of a key that would get me in there if I wanted it and I thought it would be great so I took it. Turned out unbeknownst to me that it was the master key to the school and some others had it and were stealing things at night. So when they got arrested they named me and I got arrested under the charge of "Receiving Stolen Property". But the detective questioned me at length and determined I really was unaware of what was going on so I went before a judge in Dekalb County, Georgia and the Judge listened to the detective and he said, "Dead Docket, case closed." I went home and got yelled at by my parents and never looked back or had any other interaction with the police!
Come to find out that Dead Docket is only done in Georgia's justice system and basically says they don't have enough evidence to proceed so no sentence is given and no plea bargain is made and it is just dead.... but the arrest is still on your record.
The CBA was very nice but told me I would have to have the court write a letter or something explaining this was basically an old closed case and of no interest to the court. I now live in Texas and can't get anyone in Georgia to help via email or phone and one can only imagine where or if the original records exist. The agent gave me 30 days but I had to travel overseas for most of that so I just let it go.
What I don't know and forgot to ask is if I had told them on my application about the arrest in my youth if it would have garnered me a denial...