HB5920 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 20256 RLC 35846 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB5920

Introduced 2/10/2010, by Rep. Lisa M. Dugan

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

705 ILCS 405/1-7

from Ch. 37, par. 801-7

Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that law enforcement agencies may release law enforcement records, when a minor's parent or legal guardian has signed a release and waiver of confidentiality, for the sole purpose of releasing those records to a teen court, peer court, or other juvenile division program as authorized by the Act. Provides that the program that receives such confidential records shall use those records only for the operation of the program and shall otherwise keep all such records confidential.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning courts.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Juvenile Court Act of 1987 is amended by changing Section 1-7 as follows:

(705 ILCS 405/1-7) (from Ch. 37, par. 801-7)

Sec. 1-7. Confidentiality of law enforcement records.

(A) Inspection and copying of law enforcement records maintained by law enforcement agencies that relate to a minor who has been arrested or taken into custody before his or her 17th birthday shall be restricted to the following:

(1) Any local, State or federal law enforcement officers of any jurisdiction or agency when necessary for the discharge of their official duties during the investigation or prosecution of a crime or relating to a minor who has been adjudicated delinquent and there has been a previous finding that the act which constitutes the previous offense was committed in furtherance of criminal activities by a criminal street gang, or, when necessary for the discharge of its official duties in connection with a particular investigation of the conduct of a law enforcement officer, an independent agency or its staff created by ordinance and charged by a unit of local government with the duty of investigating the conduct of law enforcement officers. For purposes of this Section, "criminal street gang" has the meaning ascribed to it in Section 10 of the Illinois Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act.

(2) Prosecutors, probation officers, social workers, or other individuals assigned by the court to conduct a pre-adjudication or pre-disposition investigation, and individuals responsible for supervising or providing temporary or permanent care and custody for minors pursuant to the order of the juvenile court, when essential to performing their responsibilities.

(3) Prosecutors and probation officers:

(a) in the course of a trial when institution of criminal proceedings has been permitted or required under Section 5-805; or

(b) when institution of criminal proceedings has been permitted or required under Section 5-805 and such minor is the subject of a proceeding to determine the amount of bail; or

(c) when criminal proceedings have been permitted or required under Section 5-805 and such minor is the subject of a pre-trial investigation, pre-sentence investigation, fitness hearing, or proceedings on an application for probation.

(4) Adult and Juvenile Prisoner Review Board.

(5) Authorized military personnel.

(6) Persons engaged in bona fide research, with the permission of the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court and the chief executive of the respective law enforcement agency; provided that publication of such research results in no disclosure of a minor's identity and protects the confidentiality of the minor's record.

(7) Department of Children and Family Services child protection investigators acting in their official capacity.

(8) The appropriate school official. Inspection and copying shall be limited to law enforcement records transmitted to the appropriate school official by a local law enforcement agency under a reciprocal reporting system established and maintained between the school district and the local law enforcement agency under Section 10-20.14 of the School Code concerning a minor enrolled in a school within the school district who has been arrested or taken into custody for any of the following offenses:

(i) unlawful use of weapons under Section 24-1 of the Criminal Code of 1961;

(ii) a violation of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act;

(iii) a violation of the Cannabis Control Act;

(iv) a forcible felony as defined in Section 2-8 of the Criminal Code of 1961; or

(v) a violation of the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act.

(9) Mental health professionals on behalf of the Illinois Department of Corrections or the Department of Human Services or prosecutors who are evaluating, prosecuting, or investigating a potential or actual petition brought under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act relating to a person who is the subject of juvenile law enforcement records or the respondent to a petition brought under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act who is the subject of the juvenile law enforcement records sought. Any records and any information obtained from those records under this paragraph (9) may be used only in sexually violent persons commitment proceedings.

(B) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no law enforcement officer or other person or agency may knowingly transmit to the Department of Corrections, Adult Division or the Department of State Police or to the Federal Bureau of Investigation any fingerprint or photograph relating to a minor who has been arrested or taken into custody before his or her 17th birthday, unless the court in proceedings under this Act authorizes the transmission or enters an order under Section 5-805 permitting or requiring the institution of criminal proceedings.

(2) Law enforcement officers or other persons or agencies shall transmit to the Department of State Police copies of fingerprints and descriptions of all minors who have been arrested or taken into custody before their 17th birthday for the offense of unlawful use of weapons under Article 24 of the Criminal Code of 1961, a Class X or Class 1 felony, a forcible felony as defined in Section 2-8 of the Criminal Code of 1961, or a Class 2 or greater felony under the Cannabis Control Act, the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act, or Chapter 4 of the Illinois Vehicle Code, pursuant to Section 5 of the Criminal Identification Act. Information reported to the Department pursuant to this Section may be maintained with records that the Department files pursuant to Section 2.1 of the Criminal Identification Act. Nothing in this Act prohibits a law enforcement agency from fingerprinting a minor taken into custody or arrested before his or her 17th birthday for an offense other than those listed in this paragraph (2).

(C) The records of law enforcement officers, or of an independent agency created by ordinance and charged by a unit of local government with the duty of investigating the conduct of law enforcement officers, concerning all minors under 17 years of age must be maintained separate from the records of arrests and may not be open to public inspection or their contents disclosed to the public except by order of the court presiding over matters pursuant to this Act or when the institution of criminal proceedings has been permitted or required under Section 5-805 or such a person has been convicted of a crime and is the subject of pre-sentence investigation or proceedings on an application for probation or when provided by law. For purposes of obtaining documents pursuant to this Section, a civil subpoena is not an order of the court.

(1) In cases where the law enforcement, or independent agency, records concern a pending juvenile court case, the party seeking to inspect the records shall provide actual notice to the attorney or guardian ad litem of the minor whose records are sought.

(2) In cases where the records concern a juvenile court case that is no longer pending, the party seeking to inspect the records shall provide actual notice to the minor or the minor's parent or legal guardian, and the matter shall be referred to the chief judge presiding over matters pursuant to this Act.

(3) In determining whether the records should be available for inspection, the court shall consider the minor's interest in confidentiality and rehabilitation over the moving party's interest in obtaining the information. Any records obtained in violation of this subsection (C) shall not be admissible in any criminal or civil proceeding, or operate to disqualify a minor from subsequently holding public office or securing employment, or operate as a forfeiture of any public benefit, right, privilege, or right to receive any license granted by public authority.

(D) Nothing contained in subsection (C) of this Section shall prohibit the inspection or disclosure to victims and witnesses of photographs contained in the records of law enforcement agencies when the inspection and disclosure is conducted in the presence of a law enforcement officer for the purpose of the identification or apprehension of any person subject to the provisions of this Act or for the investigation or prosecution of any crime.

(E) Law enforcement officers, and personnel of an independent agency created by ordinance and charged by a unit of local government with the duty of investigating the conduct of law enforcement officers, may not disclose the identity of any minor in releasing information to the general public as to the arrest, investigation or disposition of any case involving a minor.

(F) Nothing contained in this Section shall prohibit law enforcement agencies from communicating with each other by letter, memorandum, teletype or intelligence alert bulletin or other means the identity or other relevant information pertaining to a person under 17 years of age if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person poses a real and present danger to the safety of the public or law enforcement officers. The information provided under this subsection (F) shall remain confidential and shall not be publicly disclosed, except as otherwise allowed by law.

(G) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the right of a Civil Service Commission or appointing authority of any state, county or municipality examining the character and fitness of an applicant for employment with a law enforcement agency, correctional institution, or fire department from obtaining and examining the records of any law enforcement agency relating to any record of the applicant having been arrested or taken into custody before the applicant's 17th birthday.

(H) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit law enforcement agencies from releasing law enforcement records, when a minor's parent or legal guardian has signed a release and waiver of confidentiality, for the sole purpose of releasing those records to a teen court, peer court, or other juvenile division program as authorized by Section 5-315 of this Act. The program that receives such confidential records shall use those records only for the operation of the program and shall otherwise keep all such records confidential pursuant to this Section.

(Source: P.A. 95-123, eff. 8-13-07; 96-419, eff. 8-13-09.)