SB197

Report Title:

Juvenile Records; Sharing of Adjudication Orders, Information

Description:

Requires the family court to provide written notice to the district superintendent or chief administrator when a minor enrolled in a public or private school, K-12, has been adjudicated to have committed a felony. Clarifies that the court can make legal records public. Requires family court to provide reasonable access of these records to DOE. Requires the DOE to establish safeguards to protect confidentiality of this information.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	197
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO JUVENILES.

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 571, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§571- Written notice; schools. (a) Written notice shall be provided by the family court when a minor enrolled in a public or private school, kindergarten to grade 12 inclusive, has been adjudicated by the family court to have committed a felony. The notice shall be transmitted within thirty days from the date of disposition to the district superintendent or the chief administrator, as applicable.

(b) The notice shall be transmitted by the district superintendent or the chief administrator, as applicable, to the principal of the school attended by the minor. The principal:

(1) Shall disseminate the information to those counselors directly supervising or reporting on the behavior or progress of the minor; and

(2) May disseminate the information to any teacher or administrator directly supervising or reporting on the behavior or progress of the minor whom the principal believes needs the information to work with the pupil in an appropriate fashion, to avoid being needlessly vulnerable, or to protect other persons from needless vulnerability.

(1) Be kept confidential;

(2) Be used only for the limited purpose of rehabilitating the minor and protecting students and staff; and

(3) Not be further disseminated by the teacher, counselor, or administrator, except insofar as communication with the minor, minor's parents or guardians, law enforcement personnel, and probation officer is needed to effectuate the minor's rehabilitation to protect students and staff."

SECTION 2. Section 571-84.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§571-84.6 Minor law violators; proceedings and records not confidential. (a) As used in this section:

"Legal record" means petitions, complaints, motions, and other papers filed in any case; transcripts of testimony taken by the court; and findings, judgments, orders, decrees, and other papers and adjudication data, other than social records, filed in proceedings before the court.

"Social record" means those social and clinical studies, reports, or examinations prepared in any case pursuant to this chapter.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, in any proceeding in which a minor age fourteen years of age or older has been adjudicated by the court under section 571-11(1) for an act that if committed by an adult would:

(1) Be murder in the first degree or second degree or attempted murder in the first degree;

(2) Result in substantial or serious bodily injury to or death of a victim;

(3) Be a class A felony; or

(4) Be a felony and the minor has more than one prior adjudication for acts that would constitute felonies if committed by an adult,

all legal records related to the above stated proceeding shall be open for public inspection, unless the administrative judge of the family court or the judge's designee finds in writing that there are significant and compelling circumstances peculiar to the case of such a nature that public inspection would be inconsistent with or defeat the express purpose of this section. All social records shall be kept confidential except as provided in section 571-84.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, in any case in which a minor age sixteen years of age or older comes within section 571-11(1) is taken into custody for an act that if committed by an adult would:

(1) Be murder in the first degree or second degree or attempted murder in the first degree;

(2) Result in substantial or serious bodily injury to or death of a victim;

(3) Be a class A felony and the minor has one or more prior adjudications for an act that would constitute a felony if committed by an adult; or

(4) Be a class B or C felony and the minor has more than one prior adjudication for acts that would constitute felonies if committed by an adult,

all legal proceedings related to the above stated case shall be open to the public unless the administrative judge of the family court or the judge's designee finds in writing that there are significant and compelling circumstances peculiar to the case of such a nature that an open proceeding would be inconsistent with or defeat the express purpose of this section.

(d) Notwithstanding section 92F-14 and any other law to the contrary, the family court shall provide reasonable access to all records open for public inspection pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) to the department of education."

SECTION 3. The department of education shall establish and maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards that are appropriate to protect the confidentiality, security, accuracy, and integrity of the information received or transmitted from the family court. In addition, the department of education, in collaboration with the family court, shall establish policies and procedures which shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) The conditions which will require access to the information maintained by the family court;

(2) The appropriate departmental personnel who will request the information from the family court;

(3) The essential departmental personnel that the information will be disseminated to and for what limited purposes;

(4) How the department will use the confidential information to rehabilitate the minor and to protect other students and staff;

(5) What sanctions or disciplinary actions will be instituted for the wrongful dissemination of confidential information; and

(6) When and how the confidential file will be destroyed.

The department of education shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2001 regular session.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 2 shall take effect on August 1, 2002, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2004, and section 571-84.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall be reenacted in the form in which it read on the day before the approval of this Act.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________