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Juvenile Records - Who Should Have Access?

NCJ Number
82176
Journal
Children's Legal Rights Journal Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: (January/February 1982) Pages: 9-14
Editor(s)
R Gottesman
Date Published
1982
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article examines the competing interests of parents, agencies, and children with respect to access to educational, medical, social service, and juvenile justice records and summarizes the standards on information collection and access recommended by the Institute of Judicial Administration (IJA) and the American Bar Association (ABA).
Abstract
In the Wisconsin v. Yoder case, the Supreme Court recognized parents' primary responsibility to decide upon issues concerning their children's upbringing, health care, or education. State agencies have the responsibility to intervene if parents fail to meet the minimal standards of acceptable parenthood and either abuse or neglect their children. The State's responsibility also applies when the child is in need of supervision or is delinquent. In most jurisidictions, adolescents have certain rights of their own, including the right to seek venereal disease and drug abuse treatment as well as contraceptive care without their parents' consent. In jurisdictions where youths are allowed to seek psychiatric care on their own, psychiatrists must maintain confidentiality. In every jurisdiction, adolescents with police records have the right to have them remain confidential. No statutory guidelines exist with respect to actions by school guidance counselors, who must consider both their own credibility with students and parents' inability to help their children. The IJA/ABA standards suggest that agencies establish oversight committees to scrutinize their information practices and inform the public about those practices. The standards also advise that information should not have the effect of labeling a child in a stereotypical fashion and that excessive information should not be collected. A mechanism for correction and expungement of records is also recommended. The standards also specify that records should not contain simplistic conclusions or predictions about the child's future. While there are no absolutes on the subject of records access, it is generally agreed that adolescents should have access unless the information will harm them psychologically, that parents should have access to all information except that regarding services obtainable without the parent's consent, and that agencies should have access to information if they are providing help to the child. All others should generally be denied access without parents' and juveniles' consent and unless the need for such access is established. Endnotes are provided.