Message:
Human subjects are protected by laws and policies that regulate what and
how private information is collected, maintained, and disclosed.
Implication:
Juvenile justice professionals must uphold regulations and implement procedures
that protect youth privacy, particularly when the juvenile justice
system, schools, and human service organizations share information.
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In addition to the Common Rule, the rights and welfare of
juveniles are protected through other Federal privacy laws, state
statutes, and local regulations. These laws regulate the dissemination
of juvenile offender information by the courts, juvenile justice
organizations, schools, and other youth-related programs. Laws that
govern youth privacy issues in each state can include, but are not
limited to, police records, both legal and social history juvenile
court records, mental health records, youth-related programs and
support services records, mental health case files, and school records.
Juvenile justice professionals should be aware that policies regulating
dissemination of juvenile court record information vary widely among
states.
While the general trend is for juvenile court records to be more open
to the public, the majority of states have qualifying restrictions,
such as age and offense, relative to public release of youth records.
Some states permit youth-serving agencies access to juvenile court
records through a court order from a juvenile court judge. Additionally,
some state laws limit interagency information sharing, while others
require local youth agencies to share information.
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