Current Status Bill Number:3664 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19950223 Primary Sponsor:Simrill, All Sponsors:Simrill, Meacham, R. Smith, Whatley, Cato, Sharpe, Limehouse, Limbaugh, Gamble, Littlejohn, Trotter, Robinson, Davenport, Rice, Seithel, Walker, Lanford and Knotts Drafted Document Number:BR1\18185AC.95 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Judiciary Committee 25 HJ Subject:Juvenile records
Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ _______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 19950223 Introduced, read first time, 25 HJ referred to CommitteeView additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.
TO AMEND SECTION 20-7-780, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO RECORDS, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND FINGERPRINTING OF JUVENILES, SO AS TO REMOVE THE CONFIDENTIALITY FOR THE NAME, IDENTITY, PICTURE, AND RECORDS OF JUVENILES FOURTEEN YEARS OLD AND OLDER.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 20-7-780(A) and (B) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Section 286, Act 181 of 1993, are further amended to read:
(A) The court shall make and keep records of all cases brought before it and shall devise and cause to be printed forms for social and legal records and other papers as may be required. The official juvenile records of the courts and the Department of Juvenile Justice on children under fourteen years of age are open to inspection only by consent of the judge to persons having a legitimate interest but always must be available to the legal counsel of the juvenile. All information obtained and social records prepared in the discharge of official duty by an employee of the court or Department of Juvenile Justice on a child under fourteen years of age is confidential and must not be disclosed directly or indirectly to anyone, other than the judge or others entitled under this chapter to receive this information unless otherwise ordered by the judge. However, these records are open to inspection without the consent of the judge where the records are necessary to defend against an action initiated by a juvenile.
(B) The Department of Juvenile Justice, if requested, shall provide the victim of a violent crime, as defined in Section 16-1-60, with the name and other basic descriptive information about the juvenile charged with the crime and with information about the juvenile justice system, the status and disposition of the delinquency action, including hearing dates, times, and locations, and concerning services available to victims of juvenile crime. The name, identity, or picture of a child under fourteen years of age under the jurisdiction of the court, pursuant to this chapter, must not be made public by a newspaper, radio, or television station except as authorized by order of the court."
SECTION 2. The last paragraph of Section 20-7-780(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by an act of 1995 bearing ratification number 585 of 1994, is further amended to read:
"The Department of Juvenile Justice may fingerprint and photograph a juvenile upon commitment to a juvenile correctional institution. Fingerprints and photographs taken by the Department of Juvenile Justice remain confidential and must not be transmitted to the State Law Enforcement Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or another agency or person, except for the purpose of aiding the department in apprehending an escapee from the department, assisting the Missing Persons Information Center in the location or identification of a missing or runaway child, or except as otherwise provided in this section."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.