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Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center |
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Every jurisdiction in the country
provides for at least some degree of access to juvenile court
records. Criminal court access to juvenile records is easily
the most common type of access. Indeed, adult court access to
juvenile records of adult defendants is permitted in every state.
In 48 states, this authority is explicitly set forth in statute
law.
A 1995 National Center for Juvenile
Justice survey found that the following organizations and agencies
are customarily given access to juvenile court records, whether
on a de jure or de facto basis:
• Institutions or agencies
with juvenile custody (37 states);
• Prosecutors (33 states);
• Juvenile court judges and
professional court staff (34 states);
• Law enforcement (26 states);
• Probation officers (26 states);
and
• Criminal court staff (24
states).
In addition, 29 states allow inspection
of records by the juvenile; 30 states grant access to the juvenile’s
parents or guardian; 36 states allow the juvenile’s attorney
to look at records; and 24 states grant access to victims of
juveniles. Four states direct that people deemed to be in danger
from a juvenile may have access to the juvenile’s record
or, at a minimum, allow inspection of the juvenile’s record.
Twenty states now permit school officials at least limited access
to information concerning the juvenile’s name and address,
as well as disposition of charges.
Adult courts are most apt to use
juvenile records in sentencing determinations. Twenty-seven states
have adopted statutes that prescribe the inclusion of a juvenile
record in a presentence report or, at a minimum, authorize the
adult court to consider the defendant’s juvenile record.
In 14 states, a juvenile record is considered among the factors
in the state sentencing guidelines. As a practical matter, this
means that the juvenile record is “counted” in calculating
the offender’s criminal history score.
Roughly one-half of the states
expressly authorize prosecutors to obtain access to juvenile
records for charging determinations. Some states also allow access
by social welfare agencies, the military, school authorities,
the institution to which the juvenile is confined, the victim
of the juvenile’s act, researchers, criminal justice agencies
to which the juvenile has applied for employment, and “others
as the court may determine who have a legitimate interest in
the proceedings.” Some jurisdictions permit access when
specifically authorized by the court. Others specify the parties
to whom the record may be released and, additionally, require
a court order.
Federal law makes juvenile court
records confidential, subject to seven important exceptions.
Six of these exceptions apply to all juvenile delinquency proceedings
occurring in federal courts, and require courts to release juvenile
court records in the following circumstances:
• In response to inquiries
received from another court of law;
• In response to inquiries
received from an agency preparing a presentence report for another
court;
• In response to inquiries
from law enforcement agencies where the request is related to
the investigation of a crime or a position within that agency;
• In response to inquiries,
in writing, from the director of a treatment agency or the director
of a facility to which the juvenile has been committed by a court;
• In response to inquiries
from an agency considering the person for a position immediately
and directly affecting the national security; and
• In response to inquiries
from any victim of such juvenile delinquency or, if the victim
is deceased, from the immediate family of such victim, relating
to the final disposition of such juvenile.
The seventh exception applies to chronic and serious juvenile
offenders over the age of 13, as recently amended by the Crime
Control Act of 1994, and requires that information relating to
guilty adjudications be transmitted to the FBI. Once there, the
FBI treats this information in the same manner as the FBI treats
adult conviction information.
Although sealing and purging policies
appear to be inconsistent, with the trend toward increasing the
availability of juvenile records, sealing and purging retains
substantial support. In most states, sealing and purging laws
remain on the books, frequently with little change over the last
decade. The reason, no doubt, is that in most states, sealing
and purging is available only for those juvenile offenders who
have demonstrated some rehabilitation by establishing a clean
record period. Even today, those juveniles who, after committing
one or two offenses, establish a clean record period represent
the great majority of the juvenile offender population.
All but two states govern by statute
the sealing and expungement of juvenile records. Sealing and
requirement laws, like other laws governing juvenile justice
records, are more likely to apply to juvenile court records than
to law enforcement records.
Where records may be sealed, certain
conditions must usually be met, including a clean record period,
no subsequent convictions or adjudications, no pending proceedings,
attainment of a defined age, expiration of juvenile court jurisdiction,
satisfactory outcome of the proceedings for which the record
was created, and the type of offense. Expungement guidelines
are similar to sealing guidelines, but because of the finality
of expungement, court orders are almost always required.
In most states, access to sealed
records is strictly regulated. Only a few states do not address
the issue. In over 20 jurisdictions, consent of the court is
required. In several states, the record may be unsealed if the
juvenile is convicted of another crime or adjudicated delinquent.
In three states, reopening of the record in these circumstances
is automatic. The courts have made clear that there is not a
constitutional right to seal or expunge juvenile records and
that a court may unseal records.
The preceding article was adapted from the Bureau of Justice Statistics publication “Privacy and Juvenile Justice Records: A Mid-Decade Status Report,” NCJ-161255.