Section 12-15-100

Filing and inspection of records, etc.

(a) Social, medical, and psychiatric or psychological records, including reports of preliminary inquiries and predisposition studies, of delinquent, in need of supervision and dependent children, including supervision records of such children, shall be filed separate from other files and records of the court and shall be open to inspection and copying, only by the following:

(1) The judge and probation officers and professional staff assigned to serve the court.

(2) Representatives of a public or private agency or department providing supervision or having legal custody of the child.

(3) Any other person or agency that the juvenile court determines, after a hearing has a legitimate interest in the case or in the work of the court.

(4) The probation and other professional staff assigned to serve a criminal court, including the prosecutor and the attorney for the defendant, for use in considering the sentence to be imposed upon a convicted person, or one adjudicated a youthful offender, who, prior thereto, had been a party to the proceedings in court.

(5) The probation and other professional staff assigned to serve a criminal court when investigating or considering youthful offender applications.

(6) The parent of the child, except when parental rights have been terminated, or guardian and the counsel and the guardian ad litem of the child.

(7) The principal of the school in which the child is enrolled, or the representative of the principal, and other school officials as the principal deems necessary, upon written petition to the juvenile court setting forth the reasons why the safety or welfare, or both, of the school, its students, or personnel, necessitate production of the information and without which the safety and welfare of the school, its students, and personnel, would be threatened.

(b) All or any part of the records enumerated in subsection (a) or information secured from the records, when presented to and used by the judge in court or otherwise in a proceeding under this chapter, shall also be made available to the parties to the proceedings and their counsel and representatives.

(c) All other court records, including the docket, petitions, motions, and other papers filed with a case, transcripts of testimony, findings, verdicts, orders, and decrees shall be open to inspection by those persons and agencies designated in subsections (a) and (b).

(d) Petitions, motions, court notices, or dispositions shall be open to inspection by the victim or the victim's representatives.

(e) Whoever, except for the purposes permitted and in the manner provided by this section, discloses or makes use of or knowingly permits the use of information concerning a child before the court directly or indirectly derived from the records of the court or acquired in the course of official duties, upon conviction thereof, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

(Acts 1975, No. 1205, p. 2384, §5-142; Acts 1990, No. 90-674, p. 1304, §15; Acts 1996, No. 96-524, p. 677, §1; Act 99–433, §3.)