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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.3210 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19990112 Primary Sponsor:Fleming All Sponsors:Fleming Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\bbm\10042som99.doc Companion Bill Number:214 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Judiciary Committee 25 HJ Subject:Juvenile records, disclosure of, fingerprinting; law enforcement agencies may share; Minors, Crimes and Offenses History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 19990112 Introduced, read first time, 25 HJ referred to Committee House 19990106 Prefiled, referred to Committee 25 HJ Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND SECTION 20-7-8510, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DISCLOSURE OF JUVENILE RECORDS, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE LAW ENFORCEMENT TO INSPECT THE RECORD OF A JUVENILE UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES WITHOUT OBTAINING JUDICIAL CONSENT AND TO FINGERPRINT A JUVENILE UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING AN ORDER FROM FAMILY COURT; TO DELETE THE PROHIBITION THAT THE JUVENILE'S FINGERPRINT RECORDS NOT BE PROVIDED TO ANOTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IN CERTAIN CASES; TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE FINGERPRINT RECORDS OF A JUVENILE WHO IS NOT ADJUDICATED DELINQUENT FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES BE DESTROYED OR EXPUNGED; TO REQUIRE FINGERPRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF JUVENILES TAKEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE TO BE TRANSMITTED TO THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION; TO DELETE THE PROVISION THAT PEACE OFFICERS' RECORDS OF CHILDREN MAY BE OPEN TO INSPECTION ONLY BY GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES AUTHORIZED BY THE FAMILY COURT; AND TO ADD SECTION 20-7-8525 SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE GATHERING AND SHARING OF INFORMATION AND FILES CONCERNING THE INVESTIGATION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND TO REQUIRE THE AGENCIES TO ESTABLISH SECURITY PROCEDURES TO SAFEGUARD THIS INFORMATION AND FILES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 20-7-8510 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 384 of 1998, is further 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 where a person or agency specified in subsection (C) requires access to and inspection of the records for criminal justice purposes.
(B) The Department of Juvenile Justice, if requested, shall provide the victim of a crime 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 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.
(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 weapon was used; or
(4) distribution or trafficking in unlawful drugs as defined in Article 3, Chapter 53 of Title 44.
In addition, a juvenile under criminal investigation for an offense enumerated above or a juvenile who is a suspect in an investigation that involves the commission of an offense enumerated above 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 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. 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, 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 and any record created as a result of such information must be made available for criminal justice purposes. For the purposes of this section, "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 fingerprints and photographs may be transmitted to 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, and must not be open to public inspection, and may be open to inspection only by governmental agencies authorized by the judge.
(F) The provisions of this section do not prohibit the distribution of information pursuant to the provisions of Article 7, Chapter 3 of Title 23."
SECTION 2. Subarticle 19, Article 30, Title 20 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 20-7-8525. Nothing in this subarticle prohibits the gathering of information by law enforcement or the maintenance of criminal intelligence files, including photographs of juveniles for the purpose of investigating crimes. This information and these files are not accessible by the public. Law enforcement agencies, solicitors' offices, the Attorney General, and any state or local agency involved in the performance of an activity directly involving the detection, apprehension, detention, pre-trial release, post-trial release, prosecution, adjudication, correctional supervision, or rehabilitation of accused or convicted persons or criminal offenders may share information or criminal intelligence files. The senior official of each agency shall establish security procedures for the safeguarding of this information and these files."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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