2012 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 610 PROCEDURAL MATTERS 610.320 Juvenile record and juvenile docket -- Disclosure of information in court and police records concerning juvenile prohibited -- Exceptions -- Use of juvenile records in court.
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610.320 Juvenile record and juvenile docket -- Disclosure of information in court
and police records concerning juvenile prohibited -- Exceptions -- Use of
juvenile records in court.
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(4)
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A special record book shall be kept by the court for all cases, to be known as the
"juvenile record," and the docket or calendar of such cases shall be called the
"juvenile docket."
No probation officer, nor employee of a probation officer, shall, without the consent
of the District Judge sitting in juvenile session, divulge or communicate to any
persons other than the court, law enforcement, the Department of Juvenile Justice,
an officer of the court interested in the case, a member of the advisory board of the
court, or a representative of the cabinet, any information obtained pursuant to the
discharge of his duties, nor shall any record of the action of the probation officer be
made public except by leave of the District Judge; provided, that nothing in this
subsection shall prohibit the probation officer from divulging or communicating
such information to the court, to his colleagues or superiors in his own department,
or to another probation officer having a direct interest in the record or social history
of the child.
All law enforcement and court records regarding children who have not reached
their eighteenth birthday shall not be opened to scrutiny by the public, except that a
separate public record shall be kept by the clerk of the court which shall be
accessible to the public for court records, limited to the petition, order of the
adjudication, and disposition in juvenile delinquency proceedings concerning a
child who is fourteen (14) years of age or older at the time of the commission of the
offense, and who is adjudicated a juvenile delinquent for the commission of an
offense that would constitute a capital offense or a Class A, B, or C felony if the
juvenile were an adult, or any offense involving a deadly weapon, or an offense
wherein a deadly weapon is used or displayed.
Release of the child's treatment, medical, mental, or psychological records is
prohibited unless presented as evidence in Circuit Court. Release of any records
resulting from the child's prior abuse and neglect under Title IV-E or Title IV-B of
the Federal Social Security Act is also prohibited. Otherwise, the law enforcement
records shall be made available to the child, family, guardian, or legal representative
of the child involved. The records shall also be made available to the court,
probation officers, prosecutors, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and law
enforcement agencies or representatives of the cabinet. Records, limited to the
child's adjudication of delinquency, and disposition of a criminal activity covered by
KRS 610.345, shall also be made available to public or private elementary and
secondary school administrative, transportation, and counseling personnel, and to
any teacher to whose class the student has been assigned for instruction, subject to
the provisions of KRS 610.340 and 610.345.
Subject to the Kentucky Rules of Evidence, juvenile court records of adjudications
of guilt of a child for an offense which would be a felony if committed by an adult
shall be admissible in court at any time the child is tried as an adult, or after the
child becomes an adult, at any subsequent criminal trial relating to that same person.
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Juvenile court records made available pursuant to this section may be used for
impeachment purposes during a criminal trial, and may be used during the
sentencing phase of a criminal trial. However, the fact that a juvenile has been
adjudicated delinquent of an offense which would be a felony if the child had been
an adult shall not be used in finding the child to be a persistent felony offender
based upon that adjudication.
This section shall not relieve the probation officer or peace officer from divulging
such facts as a witness in a trial or hearing involving any cases falling under KRS
Chapters 600 to 645 or the production of juvenile records for use in the trial or
proceedings.
This section shall not prohibit release of information regarding juvenile proceedings
in the District Court which do not reveal the identity of the child or its parents or
guardians, or which relate to the child's eligibility for services under Title IV-E or
IV-B of the Federal Social Security Act. Release of the child's treatment, medical,
mental, or psychological records is prohibited unless presented as evidence in
Circuit Court.
Effective: July 12, 2006
History: Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 182, sec. 68, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended
1998 Ky. Acts ch. 493, sec. 15, effective April 10, 1998; and ch. 606, sec. 22,
effective July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 358, sec. 36, effective July 1,
1996 and July 15, 1997. -- Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 350, sec. 37, effective April
10, 1988. -- Created 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 423, sec. 51, effective July 1, 1987.
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