Request By:
Ms. Dona M. Rains
The Anderson News
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky 40342
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
As a news reporter for the Anderson News you have requested an opinion from the Office of the Attorney General as to whether a juvenile court judge may provide you with the juvenile court disposition of a juvenile case. You stated you do not want the juvenile's name or to sit in on juvenile court hearings but that you do want to know how or if a case is disposed of in the juvenile court.
The question you have presented for our consideration requires a thorough examination of the confidentiality of juvenile court proceedings and the records that result from those proceedings.
The county court in the trial and disposition of proceedings concerning children, with limited exceptions, is the juvenile court. KRS 208.030. This section of our juvenile laws also requires that a special record book shall be kept by the court for all juvenile cases and that it is to be known as the juvenile record. KRS 208.040(1) provides that the clerk of each county shall be the clerk of the juvenile session of the county court and shall attend all sessions of the court and keep a complete and indexed record of the proceedings.
Cases involving children brought before the juvenile court are to be dealt with by the juvenile court at separate hearings and without a jury. KRS 208.060(1). This subsection goes on to state:
". . . The hearings may be conducted in an informal manner. The general public shall be excluded and only the immediate families of the parties before court, witnesses necessary for the prosecution and defense of the case, the probation worker with direct interest in the case, those persons enumerated under KRS 208.040, such persons admitted as the judge shall find have a direct interest in the case or in the work of the court, and such other persons as agreed to by the child and his attorney may be admitted to the hearing. Witnesses shall be admitted to the hearing only for the duration of their testimony." (Emphasis added.)
Subsection (2) of this statute provides that the juvenile proceedings shall consist of two distinct hearings, an adjudication and a disposition, which may, upon motion of the child, be held on separate days. If during the adjudication hearing the matters alleged against the child are proven by the Commonwealth to be supported beyond a reasonable doubt, the juvenile court must then, as a disposition of the matter, determine through hearing procedures, where the public is still precluded, "the action to be taken by the court on behalf of and in the best interest of, the child." KRS 208.060(1)(d). Before making that disposition the law requires the juvenile judge to "cause an investigation to be made, concerning the nature of the specific act complained of, and any circumstances surrounding the child which throw light on the future care and guidance which should be given the child. The investigation shall include an inquiry into the child's age, habits, school record, general reputation and everything that may pertain to his life and character. The investigation shall also include an inquiry into the home conditions, life and character of the person having custody of the child. The result of the investigation shall be reported in writing to the judge previous to the final hearing of the child's case, and shall become a part of the record of the proceedings." KRS 208.140(1); (Emphasis added.) Usually the investigation is conducted by a probation officer. The information gained in the investigation, with very limited exceptions as indicated by statute, is not to be made public except by leave of the county judge. KRS 208.340(1).
Once the disposition of a juvenile's case is made, although this adjudication status is not to be deemed a conviction nor is any child found to be guilty to be deemed a criminal by reason of the adjudication (KRS 208.200(9)), the court by statute is required to notify the law enforcement agency of the child's county of residence and the law enforcement agencies where any offense was committed of the disposition of each case. KRS 208.198. However, in KRS 208.340(2) it should be noted that "all police records regarding children who have not reached their eighteenth birthday shall not be opened to scrutiny by the public." We believe the disposition information given by the juvenile court to the police may not then in turn be released by the police for public scrutiny. See OAG 75-77, copy attached.
In view of the sections of Kentucky's juvenile court statutes reviewed above, we believe obviously prevailing is a protective philosophy and an aura of confidentiality surrounding juvenile court proceedings. It would seem quite illogical that the special juvenile record book wherein is recorded confidential non-public juvenile court proceedings should be open to public inspection. Part of that record, the investigation report, covers not just the child before the court but also the home conditions, life and character of the person having custody of the child. It is our opinion that when these provisions of the juvenile court law are considered against the Commonwealth's open records legislation and the exclusions from application of that legislation, that the juvenile court records, including the disposition of a child under eighteen whose case has been disposed of in juvenile court, are to be considered confidential and subject to inspection only by order of the court or as otherwise authorized under specific juvenile court statutes. KRS 61.878(1)(a), (j) provides as follows:
"(1) The following public records are excluded from the application of KRS 61.870 to 61.884 and shall be subject to inspection only upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction:
(a) Public records containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
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(j) Public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by enactment of the general assembly."
It is therefore our opinion that disclosure of the disposition of a juvenile's case may not be made to the public. OAG 76-493, copy attached, is modified to incorporate the conclusion of this opinion.