REPORT TITLE: 
Juvenile Record Sharing


DESCRIPTION:
Allows the department of education to access juvenile records as
provided under section 571-84.6 (HRS); requires family court to
expedite the release of information as requested by the
department.  (SD2)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2996
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO JUVENILES.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 571-84.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "§571-84.6  Minor law violators; proceedings and records not
 
 4 confidential.(a)  As used in this section:
 
 5      "Legal record" means petitions, complaints, motions, and
 
 6 other papers filed in any case; transcripts of testimony taken by
 
 7 the court; and findings, judgments, orders, decrees, and other
 
 8 papers and adjudication data, other than social records, filed in
 
 9 proceedings before the court.
 
10      "Social record" means those social and clinical studies,
 
11 reports, or examinations prepared in any case pursuant to this
 
12 chapter.
 
13      (b)  Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, in any
 
14 proceeding in which a minor age fourteen years of age or older
 
15 has been adjudicated by the court under section 571-11(1) for an
 
16 act that if committed by an adult would:
 
17      (1)  Be murder in the first degree or second degree or
 
18           attempted murder in the first degree;
 
19      (2)  Result in substantial or serious bodily injury to or
 
20           death of a victim;
 

 
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 1      (3)  Be a class A felony; or
 
 2      (4)  Be a felony and the minor has more than one prior
 
 3           adjudication for acts that would constitute felonies if
 
 4           committed by an adult,
 
 5 all legal records related to the above stated proceeding shall be
 
 6 open for public inspection, unless the administrative judge of
 
 7 the family court or the judge's designee finds in writing that
 
 8 there are significant and compelling circumstances peculiar to
 
 9 the case of such a nature that public inspection would be
 
10 inconsistent with or defeat the express purpose of this section.
 
11 All social records shall be kept confidential except as provided
 
12 in section 571-84.
 
13      (c)  Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, in any
 
14 case in which a minor age sixteen years of age or older comes
 
15 within section 571-11(1) is taken into custody for an act that if
 
16 committed by an adult would:
 
17      (1)  Be murder in the first degree or second degree or
 
18           attempted murder in the first degree;
 
19      (2)  Result in substantial or serious bodily injury to or
 
20           death of a victim;
 
21      (3)  Be a class A felony and the minor has one or more prior
 
22           adjudications for an act that would constitute a felony
 
23           if committed by an adult; or
 

 
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 1      (4)  Be a class B or C felony and the minor has more than
 
 2           one prior adjudication for acts that would constitute
 
 3           felonies if committed by an adult,
 
 4 all legal proceedings related to the above stated case shall be
 
 5 open to the public unless the administrative judge of the family
 
 6 court or the judge's designee finds in writing that there are
 
 7 significant and compelling circumstances peculiar to the case of
 
 8 such a nature that an open proceeding would be inconsistent with
 
 9 or defeat the express purpose of this section. 
 
10      (d)  Notwithstanding the provisions of section 92F-14 and
 
11 any other law to the contrary, the family court shall provide
 
12 reasonable access to all records open for public inspection
 
13 pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) to the department of
 
14 education.  Upon a written inquiry by the department of
 
15 education, the family court shall provide the requested
 
16 information within ten working days from the date of the
 
17 request."
 
18      SECTION 2.  The department of education shall establish and
 
19 maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards that
 
20 are appropriate to protect the confidentiality, security,
 
21 accuracy, and integrity of the information received or
 
22 transmitted from the family court.  In addition, the department
 
23 of education, in collaboration with the Family Court, shall
 
24 establish policies and procedures which shall include, but not be
 

 
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 1 limited to:
 
 2      (1)  The conditions which will require access to the
 
 3           information maintained by the family court;
 
 4      (2)  The appropriate departmental personnel who will request
 
 5           the information from the family court;
 
 6      (3)  The essential departmental personnel that the
 
 7           information will be disseminated to and for what
 
 8           limited purposes;
 
 9      (4)  How the department will use the confidential
 
10           information to rehabilitate the minor and to protect
 
11           other students and staff; 
 
12      (5)  What sanctions or disciplinary actions will be
 
13           instituted for the wrongful dissemination of
 
14           confidential information; and
 
15      (6)  When and how the confidential file will be destroyed.
 
16 The department of education shall submit a report of its findings
 
17 and recommendations to the legislature no later than twenty days
 
18 prior to the convening of the 2001 regular session.
 
19      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
20 New statutory material is underscored.
 
21      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval;
 
22 provided that section 1 shall take effect on August 1, 2001 and
 
23 shall be repealed on June 30, 2003 and section 571-84.6, Hawaii
 

 
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 1 Revised Statutes, is reenacted in the form in which it read on
 
 2 the day before the approval of this Act.