Bill Text: CT SB00366 | 2014 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning The Erasure Of Records In Delinquency And Family With Service Needs Matters.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-02 - Favorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, Senate [SB00366 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2014-SB00366-Comm_Sub.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 366
February Session, 2014		LCO No. 1949
		*_____SB00366JUD___050214____*
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)

AN ACT CONCERNING THE ERASURE OF RECORDS IN DELINQUENCY AND FAMILY WITH SERVICE NEEDS MATTERS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 46b-146 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2014):

(a) (1) Whenever [any] a child has been convicted as delinquent [, has been adjudicated a member of a family with service needs] for the commission of a serious juvenile offense or has signed a statement of responsibility admitting to having committed a [delinquent act] serious juvenile offense, and has subsequently been discharged from the supervision of the Superior Court or from the custody of the Department of Children and Families or from the care of any other institution or agency to [whom] which the child has been committed by the court, such child, or the child's parent or guardian, may file a petition with the Superior Court [. If such] for erasure of records pursuant to this subdivision. The court shall order all police and court records pertaining to such child to be erased if the court finds [(1)] that (A) at least [two years or, in the case of a child convicted as delinquent for the commission of a serious juvenile offense,] four years have elapsed from the date of such discharge, [(2) that] (B) no subsequent juvenile proceeding or adult criminal proceeding is pending against such child, [(3) that] (C) such child has not been convicted of a delinquent act that would constitute a felony or misdemeanor if committed by an adult during such [two-year or] four-year period, [(4) that] (D) such child has not been convicted as an adult of a felony or misdemeanor during such [two-year or] four-year period, and [(5) that] (E) such child has reached eighteen years of age. [, the court shall order all police and court records pertaining to such child to be erased.]

(2) Whenever a child has been convicted as delinquent for the commission of a delinquent act other than a serious juvenile offense, has been adjudicated a member of a family with service needs or has signed a statement of responsibility admitting to having committed a delinquent act other than a serious juvenile offense, and has subsequently been discharged from the supervision of the Superior Court or from the custody of the Department of Children and Families or from the care of any other institution or agency to which the child has been committed by the court, the court shall order all police and court records pertaining to such child to be erased on the second day of January of each year or on a date designated by the court without the filing of a petition if the court finds that (A) at least two years have elapsed from the date of such discharge, (B) no subsequent juvenile proceeding or adult criminal proceeding is pending against such child, (C) such child has not been convicted of a delinquent act that would constitute a felony or misdemeanor if committed by an adult during such two-year period, (D) such child has not been convicted as an adult of a felony or misdemeanor during such two-year period, and (E) such child has reached eighteen years of age.

(3) Upon the entry of such an erasure order, all references including arrest, complaint, referrals, petitions, reports and orders, shall be removed from all agency, official and institutional files, and a finding of delinquency or that the child was a member of a family with service needs shall be deemed never to have occurred. The persons in charge of such records shall not disclose to any person information pertaining to the record so erased, except that the fact of such erasure may be substantiated where, in the opinion of the court, it is in the best interests of such child to do so. No child who has been the subject of such an erasure order shall be deemed to have been arrested ab initio, within the meaning of the general statutes, with respect to proceedings so erased. Copies of the erasure order shall be sent to all persons, agencies, officials or institutions known to have information pertaining to the delinquency or family with service needs proceedings affecting such child.

(b) Whenever the case of a child who is charged with being delinquent or being a member of a family with service needs is dismissed, [as not delinquent or as not being a member of a family with service needs,] all police and court records pertaining to such charge shall be ordered erased immediately, without the filing of a petition.

(c) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the court from granting a petition to erase a child's records on a showing of good cause, after a hearing, before the [time] date when such records could be erased.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2014	46b-146

JUD	Joint Favorable
JUD	Joint Favorable