H 3588 Session 112 (1997-1998)
H 3588 General Bill, By Sheheen
A BILL TO AMEND SECTIONS 20-7-8505, 20-7-8510, AND 20-7-8520, CODE OF LAWS OF
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, ALL RELATING TO JUVENILE CRIMINAL RECORDS, INCLUDING
FINGERPRINTING, AND THE CONFIDENTIALITY, DISCLOSURE, AND DESTRUCTION OF THESE
RECORDS, SO AS TO REMOVE THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF THESE RECORDS FOR OFFENSES
WHICH, IF COMMITTED BY AN ADULT WOULD BE A CRIME FOR WHICH THE PENALTY COULD
BE IMPRISONMENT FOR ONE YEAR OR MORE; TO AUTHORIZE THE FINGERPRINTS AND
RELEASE TO THE PUBLIC OF THE NAME IDENTITY, AND PICTURE OF A JUVENILE CHARGED
WITH SUCH A CRIME, AND TO PROHIBIT EXPUNGEMENT OF THESE RECORDS EXCEPT UNDER
CERTAIN CONDITIONS.
03/03/97 House Introduced and read first time HJ-10
03/03/97 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-10
A BILL
TO AMEND SECTIONS 20-7-8505, 20-7-8510, AND 20-7-8520,
CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, ALL
RELATING TO JUVENILE CRIMINAL RECORDS, INCLUDING
FINGERPRINTING, AND THE CONFIDENTIALITY,
DISCLOSURE, AND DESTRUCTION OF THESE RECORDS, SO
AS TO REMOVE THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF THESE
RECORDS FOR OFFENSES WHICH, IF COMMITTED BY AN
ADULT, WOULD BE A CRIME FOR WHICH THE PENALTY
COULD BE IMPRISONMENT FOR ONE YEAR OR MORE, TO
AUTHORIZE THE FINGERPRINTS AND RELEASE TO THE
PUBLIC OF THE NAME, IDENTITY, AND PICTURE OF A
JUVENILE CHARGED WITH SUCH A CRIME, AND TO
PROHIBIT EXPUNGEMENT OF THESE RECORDS EXCEPT
UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 20-7-8505 of the 1976 Code, as added by
Act 383 of 1996, is amended to read:
"Section 20-7-8505. Records and information of the department
pertaining to juveniles shall be are confidential as
provided in Section 20-7-8510; provided, however, that.
However, where necessary and appropriate to ensure the
provision and coordination of services and assistance to a juvenile
under the custody or supervision of the department, the director must
establish policies by which the department may transmit such
information and records to another department or agency of state or
local government, a school district, or a private institution or facility
licensed by the State as a child-serving organization, where such is
required for admission or enrollment of the juvenile into a program
of services, treatment, training, or education. Records If
a juvenile has been adjudicated delinquent and committed to the
Department of Juvenile Justice for an offense which, if committed by
an adult, would be a crime for which the penalty could be
imprisonment for one year or more, the records and information
provided to a public or private school by the Department of Juvenile
Justice must include in the case of an individual who has been
adjudicated for having committed a violent crime as defined in
Section 16-1-60, for a crime in which a weapon was used, or for
distribution or trafficking in unlawful drugs as defined in Article 3,
Chapter 53 of Title 44, a copy of and, if requested,
information pertaining to that person's juvenile criminal record. The
person's juvenile criminal record must be provided by the
Department of Juvenile Justice to the principal of the school which
the juvenile is eligible to attend immediately upon the person's
release from the Department of Juvenile Justice. The person's
juvenile criminal record must be provided by the Department of
Juvenile Justice to the principal of any school to which the person is
seeking enrollment, upon the principal's request. Each school district
is responsible for developing a policy for schools to follow within the
district which ensures that the confidential nature of these records and
of the other information received is maintained. This policy must
include at a minimum the retention of the juvenile's criminal record,
and other information relating to his criminal record, in the juvenile's
school disciplinary file, or in some other confidential location,
restricting access to the file and to its contents to school personnel as
deemed necessary and appropriate to meet and adequately address the
educational needs of the juvenile and for the destruction of these
records upon the juvenile's completion of secondary school, or upon
reaching twenty-one years of age."
SECTION 2. Section 20-7-8510 of the 1976 Code, as added by
Act 383 of 1996, is amended to read:
"Section 20-7-8510. (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 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. Except as provided
in subsection (B), all information obtained and social records
prepared in the discharge of official duty by an employee of the court
or Department of Juvenile Justice are confidential and must not be
disclosed directly or indirectly to anyone, other than the judge or
others entitled under this article 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 or if
the records pertain to a juvenile who has been adjudicated delinquent
for an offense which, if committed by an adult, would be a crime for
which the penalty could be imprisonment for one year or more.
(B) The When a juvenile is charged with an offense
which, if committed by an adult, would be a crime for which the
penalty could be imprisonment for one year or more, the
Department of Juvenile Justice, if requested, shall provide the victim
of a the crime with the name and other basic
descriptive information about the juvenile charged with the
crime taken into custody for the offense and with
information about the juvenile justice system, the status and
disposition of the delinquency action including hearing dates, times,
and locations, and services available to victims of juvenile crime.
The name, identity, or picture of a child under the jurisdiction of the
court, pursuant to this chapter, must not be provided to or made
public by a newspaper or radio or television station except as
authorized by order of the court or unless the juvenile has been bound
over to a court which would have trial jurisdiction of the offense if
committed by an adult or the juvenile has been adjudicated
delinquent in family court for:
(1) a violent crime as defined in Section
16-1-60;
(2) grand larceny of a motor vehicle;
(3) a crime in which a deadly weapon was used;
or
(4) distribution or trafficking in unlawful drugs as
defined in Article 3, Chapter 53 of Title 44 an offense which,
if committed by an adult, would be a crime for which the penalty
could be imprisonment for one year or more.
(C) A juvenile charged with committing an offense must be
fingerprinted by the law enforcement agency who takes the juvenile
into custody if the juvenile is charged with:
(1) a violent crime as defined in Section
16-1-60;
(2) grand larceny of a motor vehicle;
(3) a crime in which a deadly weapon was used;
or
(4) distribution or trafficking in unlawful drugs as
defined in Article 3, Chapter 53 of Title 44 an offense which,
if committed by an adult, would be a crime for which the penalty
could be imprisonment for one year or more.
In addition, a juvenile under criminal investigation may be
fingerprinted by a law enforcement agency upon an order from a
family court judge for the offenses enumerated above.
A juvenile under criminal investigation or charged with committing
an offense other than those enumerated above in this
subsection an offense which, if committed by an adult, would
be a crime for which the penalty could be imprisonment for one year
or more or a status offense may not be fingerprinted by law
enforcement except upon order of a family court judge. The
fingerprint records of a juvenile must be kept separate from the
fingerprint records of adults. The fingerprint records of a juvenile
must be transmitted to the files of the State Law Enforcement
Division. The fingerprint records of a juvenile must not be
transmitted to the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or
otherwise distributed or provided to another law enforcement agency
unless the juvenile is adjudicated delinquent for having committed
a violent offense, as defined in Section 16-1-60, for grand larceny
of a motor vehicle, for a crime in which a weapon was used, or for
distribution or trafficking in unlawful drugs as defined in Article 3,
Chapter 53 of Title 44 an offense which, if committed by an
adult, would be a crime for which the penalty could be imprisonment
for one year or more. The fingerprint records of a juvenile who
is not adjudicated delinquent for having committed a violent
offense, as defined in Section 16-1-60 for grand larceny of a motor
vehicle, for a crime in which a weapon was used, or for distribution
or trafficking in unlawful drugs as defined in Article 3, Chapter 53 of
Title 44 an offense which, if committed by an adult, would
be a crime for which the penalty could be imprisonment for one year
or more, upon notification to law enforcement, must be
destroyed or otherwise expunged by the South Carolina Law
Enforcement Division and the law enforcement agency who took the
juvenile into custody.
The fingerprints and any record created by the South Carolina Law
Enforcement Division as a result of the receipt of fingerprints of a
juvenile pursuant to this subsection must not be disclosed for any
purpose not specifically authorized by law or by a court order. The
fingerprints of a juvenile adjudicated as delinquent for the
commission of any of these crimes an offense which, if
committed by an adult, would be a crime for which the penalty could
be imprisonment for one year or more and any record created as
a result of such this information must be made
available for criminal justice purposes. For the purposes of this
section subsection, 'criminal justice purposes' means
the performance of any activity directly involving the detection,
apprehension, detention, pretrial release, post-trial release,
prosecution, adjudication, correctional supervision, or rehabilitation
of accused or convicted persons or criminal offenders, or the
collection, storage, and dissemination of criminal history record
information.
The Department of Juvenile Justice may fingerprint and photograph
a juvenile upon the filing of a petition, release from detention, release
on house arrest, or commitment to a juvenile correctional institution.
Fingerprints and photographs taken by the department 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, in locating and
identifying a child who fails to appear in court as summoned or who
is the subject of a house arrest order, or except as otherwise provided
in this section.
(D) Law enforcement agencies shall maintain admission and
release records on juveniles held in either secure or nonsecure
custody, or both, which must include the times and dates of
admission and release from secure and nonsecure custody and, if
appropriate, the times and dates of transfer from one custody status
to another.
(E) Peace officers' records of children must be kept separate from
records of adults, must not be open to public inspection, and may be
open to inspection only by governmental agencies authorized by the
judge; however, the record of a child is open to public inspection
if the record pertains to an offense which, if committed by an adult,
could be a crime for which the penalty could be imprisonment for one
year or more."
SECTION 3. Section 20-7-8520(A) and (B) of the 1976 Code, as
added by Act 383 of 1996, are amended to read:
"(A) A juvenile not previously adjudicated delinquent for
committing an offense which would have been a crime if committed
by an adult, who has been taken into custody, and
charged with or adjudicated delinquent for having committed a status
offense or a nonviolent criminal offense, not prohibited in
subsection (B) from being expunged, may petition the family
court for an order destroying all official records relating to being
taken into custody, the charges filed against the juvenile, the
adjudication, and disposition. The granting of the order is
discretionary with the court. However, the court may not grant the
order unless it finds that the person who is seeking to have the
records destroyed is at least eighteen years of age, has fully and
successfully completed any dispositional sentence imposed, and
has neither been charged nor is not currently charged
with committing any additional criminal offenses.
(B) Under no circumstances is a person allowed to expunge from
the record an adjudication for having committed a violent crime,
as that term is defined in Section 16-1-60 an offense which,
if committed by an adult, would be a crime for which the penalty
could be imprisonment for one year or more unless the person is not
more than twenty-five years of age and has not been adjudicated
delinquent or convicted of such an offense within the preceding six
years."
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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