accuracy of records and compliance with the prescribed recordkeeping, practices, and policies. If a complaint or petition has been filed, access should be limited by the rules of discovery until after dismissal or disposition. See Standard 3.167. Pagragraph (b) is intended to provide access to parents or parental surrogates alleged or found to have neglected or abused their child or repeatedly misused their parental authority, as well as to the parents, guardians or primary caretakers of juveniles accused or proven to have commited delinquent acts or engaged in noncriminal misbehavior. See IJA/ABA, Information Systems, supra at Standard 20.2; Model Act for Family Courts, supra; but see Report of the Task Force, supra. The same reasons underlying access by juveniles support access by their parents. Paragraphs (c) and (d) recommend access by law enforcement and juvenile justice officials involved in investigating, reviewing, processing, or adjudicating the case, or responsible for supervision or custody of the juvenile. However, they provide that records should not be disclosed unless it is "essential to carrying out the judge's, official's, or officer's lawful duties. As in Standard 1.52, the "essentialness" test is intended to be more stringent than that contained in the source provisions. Extra precautions are recommended for transfer of information to law enforcement officials in jurisdictions other than that of the maintaining agency, so as to limit the spread, and thus enhance the control of information pertaining to a juvenile. Records of juveniles whose cases were dismissed or have not yet been adjudicated, should not be disseminated in other jurisdictions in order to avoid misinterpretations and unwarranted inferences. See IJA/ABA, Information Systems, supra at Standard 20.3. Access by researchers and evaluators to identifiable data can be critical to efforts to understand the nature and causes of delinquency, noncriminal misbehavior, neglect and abuse, to examine society's response to it, and to improve the operation of the juvenile justice system. Paragraph (e) provides for such access, subject to the safeguards recommended in Standard 1.535. See IJA/ABA, Information Systems, supra at Standards 20.3 and 5.6; 28 C.F.R. supra at § 20.21; 28 C.F.R. Part 22 (1976); but see Report of the Task Force, supra. Paragraph (f) provides access when essential for monitoring or administrative purposes. This is not intended to include screening records when an individual seeks a job as a police officer or another governmental post. See IJA/ABA, Information Systems, supra at Standard 15.3(e); Model Act for Family Courts, supra; 28 C.F.R. $20.21(d) and comment thereto; but see Search Group, Inc., supra at §§ 11 and 12. See also Hawaii Revised Statutes §571-1 (Supp. 1976). The commentary to to the regulations on Criminal Justice Information Systems, points out that 28 C.F.R. §20.21(d) "denies access to records of juveniles by federal agencies conducting background investigations for eligibility [sic] to classified information under existing legal authority." The National Advisory Committee recommends in addition, that other relevant federal statutory and regulatory provisions be modified to prohibit requests to law enforcement agencies by the armed services for access to the juvenile records of applicants for enlistment. See, e.g., 10 U.S.C. §504 (1976); and 32 C.F.R. §§571.2(e) (5) (b), 729.6 (b) (4); 888.2(c) and 888.7 (1976). The Committee is in agreement with the resolution adopted by the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges in July 1976, that the armed services can "exert a great rehabilitative factor in transforming young troubled citizens into responsible mature adults leading meaningful and disciplined lives." Although under Standard 1.54 law enforcement records would include the disposition of all matters listed, and under Standard 1.55 the subjects of such records would be able to correct errors and ambiguities, the examination of law enforcement records regarding offenses alleged to have been committed by juveniles retains too great a risk of misinterpretation to warrant the apparent authority to request record checks from local police. One of the traditional reasons for confidentiality of family court proceedings is to allow juveniles to outgrow their mistakes. While as Altman points out, the arguments for allowing prospective employers to see a juvenile's arrest record are very strong in extreme cases-e.g., the child molester seeking a job as day care teacher-the effort to encourage positive life roles discussed in the prevention chapter and the growing importance of government jobs in the employment market support the view adopted by the IJA/ABA Joint Commission, the Model Act for Family Courts, and the Criminal Justice Information Systems Regulations that the general rule for adults included in the Search materials should not be extended to juveniles. The final paragraph of the standard sets out stringent restrictions on the dissemination of intelligence and investigative information. As noted in the commentary to the provision recommended by the Search Group Inc., supra: Because of the sensitive and potentially damaging nature of criminal intelligence information, much of which often is unverified, the maintenance, dissemination, and use of such information should be strictly limited to criminal justice purposes. . . In additon, there should be some reasonable limits on the instances in which intelligence information concerning an individual may be collected and the period of time it may be maintained in the absence of some indication of its continued usefulness and relevance. It should be noted that unlike the Search provisions, the standard limits disclosure to instances in which the information is essential to the performance of law enforcement duties rather than to those in which the requesting officer has merely a "demonstrable need." It is intended here and in the other sections on access, that agencies with access to identifiable records pertaining to juveniles should authorize a limited number of individuals to receive and review such records, and that reproduction or divulging of disclosed records, other than by the subject of the record, be prohibited. A provision suggesting guidelines and limits for fingerprinting and photographing of juveniles is included in the chapter on intervention. See Standard 2.246. Destruction of law enforcement records should be governed by the principles set forth in Standard 1.56. Stringent penalties should be imposed for unauthorized disclosure of identifiable information by law enforcement personnel or by individuals, 1.532 Access to Court Records Access to case records and files maintained by court under Commentary Standard 1.52 should be restricted to: a. The juvenile who is the subject of the record and his/her counsel; b. The parents, guardian, or primary caretaker of the juvenile named in the record and their counsel c. Other parties to the proceedings and their counsel; d. Intake officers, judges, prosecutors, and individuals conducting predispositional or presentence investigations, when essential to performing their responsibilities; e. Individuals and agencies for the express purpose of conducting research, evaluative, or statistical studies; and f. Members of the clerical or administrative staff of the family court if essential for authorized internal administrative purposes. In addition, objective information such as the nature of the complaint or petition and its disposition should be available to an individual or public agency directed by a dispositional order to take custody of a juvenile or to provide services to or supervise a juvenile and/or his/her family; to a law enforcement agency when such information is essential to executing an arrest warrant or other compulsory process or to conducting an ongoing investigation; to the state motor vehicle department for licensing purposes when the juvenile has been found to have committed a traffic offense; or to an agency or individual when essential to secure services or a benefit for the juvenile. Notice of such disclosures should be sent to the juvenile and his/her parents, guardian, or primary caretaker. According to M. Levin and R. Sarri, Juvenile Delinquency: A Comparative Analysis of Legal Codes in the United States, 58 (1974), forty-three states forbid public inspection of records maintained by juvenile courts. They note, however, that "these provisions commonly allow the juvenile court judge to release these records when he chooses;" and that "meaningful statutory guidelines regulating the exercise of the discretion are lacking." This standard recommends promulgation of such guidelines for all court files and records pertaining to juveniles which are indexed or retrievable by name or other identifier, and which result from the filing, processing, adjudication, or disposition of delinquency, noncriminal misbehavior, or neglect and abuse complaints and petitions, or from the appeal of interlocutory decisions, adjudications, or dispositions in such cases. Similar if not more stringent restrictions should be imposed on access to identifiable files and records maintained by prosecutors' offices and agencies providing legal services to juveniles and their families, in addition to the traditional privileges and ethical considerations which now apply. Access to intake, predispositional, community supervision, and residential facility records maintained by courts and juvenile service agencies is discussed in Standard 1.533. Paragraphs (a) and (b) are parallel to provisions on access to law enforcement records in Standard 1.531. Access by the juvenile and parent is essential for providing sufficient notice of the allegations. See Standard 3.171. For similar reasons, paragraph (c) recommends access by the prosecuting attorney who is handling the case and to other parties to the proceedings-e.g., the schools in a noncriminal misbehavior proceeding based on allegations of truancy or a corespondent. Access granted under paragraph (e) should be subject to the Cf. Standard 3.167; See IJA/ABA, Information Systems, conditions set forth in Standard 1.535. Access to identifiable intake, detention, emergency custody, and dispositional records maintained by courts should be governed by the principles set forth in Standard 1.533. Source: See generally Institute of Judicial Administration/American Bar Association Joint Commission on Juvenile Justice Standards, Standards Relating to Records and Information Systems, Standards 15.2 and 15.3 (tentative draft, 1977) [hereinafter cited as IJA/ABA, Information Systems]. supra; see generally National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Report of the Task Force on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Standard 28.2 (1976) [hereinafter cited as Report of the Task Force. Paragraph (d) is intended to cover judges in both the family court division and the criminal divisions of the highest court of general jurisdiction, as well as individuals responsible for preparing predispositional or presentence reports. This is to accommodate transfers of delinquency cases to the criminal division, and sentencing of young adults convicted of committing offense. See Standard 1.56 and IJA/ABA, Information Systems, supra. Access is subject to the stringent need-to-know policy applied throughout these standards. Paragraphs (e) and (f) are identical to their counterparts in The standard also recommends that certain portions of the court's case file may be made available to supervision or other public agencies ordered to provide care and custody to a juvenile, or to provide services to or supervise a juvenile and/or family; to motor vehicle departments authorized to revoke or refuse to issue a driver's license upon adjudication of a traffic offense; and in limited circumstances, to a law enforcement agency. These portions include the order issued in the case, the complaint and petition, the juvenile's name and address and docket entries if any, but not transcripts, evidence, reports, briefs, or memoranda which have been submitted. Generally, such agencies require only a copy of the charge and of the dispositional order and not the other material included in court records; hence there is little reason to provide access. See IJA/ABA, Information Systems, supra at Standard 15.3. For access to the predisposition report, see Standard 1.533. federal statutory No special provision is made for access to records by the press. While this is not intended to precluded attendance at and reporting of proceedings held in open court pursuant to the guidelines recommended in Standard 3.172, it does restrict media access to identifiable records both contemporaneous with and subsequent to those proceedings unless the provision on access for research, evaluative, and statistical studies applies. See Standard 1.535. Court records should be subject to the provisions for destruction destruction of records discussed in Standard 1.56. Unauthorized disclosure of identifiable court records, should be subject to stringent sanctions. These should apply to persons, other than the subjects of the records, who violate the statutory provisions governing confidentiality of identifiable information pertaining to juveniles after having access to court records. 1.52 1.53 1.531 1.533 Collection and Retention of Records Confidentiality of Records Access to Police Records In addition, the standard provides that information regarding the charge or the disposition may also be provided, presumably by the agency responsible for community Related Standards supervision, see Standards 4.11 and 4.31, to another agency or individual if disclosure is essential to obtain a service or benefit. It is intended that such information should be disclosed orally and solely on a need-to-know basis-e.g., for an employment program designed for adjudicated delinquents. See Search Group, Inc., Standards for Security and Privacy of Criminal Justice Information, § 13.2 (1975); see also IJA/ABA, Information Systems, supra at Standards 15.3(E) and 15.4(E) (2). Prompt notice of such disclosure should be sent to the juvenile and his/her parents or parental surrogate in order to provide them an opportunity to send additional information to the individual or agency to which the disclosure has been made, to correct any errors and to facilitate monitoring of disclosure practices. See Standards 1.51 and 1.55. As is the case with law enforcement records, Access to Intake, Detention, Emergency Custody, and 1.534 Access to Child Abuse Records 1.535 Access for the Purpose of Conducting Research, Evaluative, or Statistical Studies 1.54 Completeness of Records 1.55 Accuracy of Records 1.56 Destruction of Records 3.11 Jurisdiction 3.167 Discovery 3.172 Public and Closed Proceedings 1.533 Access to Intake, Access to records regarding intake, detention, emergency should be limited to: or primary caretaker, that information should ordinarily be disclosed to the requesting person's attorney or other independent representative, or through a counseling or mental health professional. In cases in which there is an exceptional risk of severe harm and disclosure through an intermediary is not feasible, the maintaining agency should apply to the family court for authorization to withhold the harmful information or to delete it from the records, such applications should be heard ex parte, but the requesting party should be notified of a decision to grant an application to withhold information and of the reasons therefore. Access to medical and mental health records should be governed by the laws defining the scope of the doctor-patient privilege, the therapist-patient privilege and other applicable a. The juvenile who is the subject of the record and his/her privileges, except that records containing information counsel; obtained in connection with the provision of counseling, mental health, or medical services to a juvenile which the juvenile has a legal right to receive without the consent of his/her parents or guardian, should not be disclosed under paragraph (b) and should not be granted without the juvenile's informed written consent. Access under paragraph (e) should be subject to the conditions set forth in Standard 1.535. d. A public agency directed to take custody of or provide f. Members of the clerical or administrative staff of the The maintaining agency should also be authorized to disclose portions of such records to an agency or individual on a need See generally Institute of Judicial Administration/American Bar Association Joint Commission on Juvenile Standards, Standards Relating to Records and Information Systems, Standards 5.2, 5.5(a) and (b), and 15.4 (tentative draft, 1977) [hereinafter cited as IJA/ABA, Information Systems]; American Bar Association, Standards Relating to Sentencing Alternatives and Procedures, $4.4 (1968) [hereinafter cited as ABA, Sentencing]. to-know basis when disclosure is essential to secure services or When the subject of a record or his/her parent, guardian, or This standard governs disclosure of identifiable reports, files and records likely to contain social history, diagnostic, and other subjective information pertaining to juveniles and their families. As stated in U.S. Department of Health, Education |