Bill Text: IL HB5920 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that law enforcement agencies may release law enforcement records, when a minor's parent or legal guardian has signed a release and waiver of confidentiality, for the sole purpose of releasing those records to a teen court, peer court, or other juvenile division program as authorized by the Act. Provides that the program that receives such confidential records shall use those records only for the operation of the program and shall otherwise keep all such records confidential.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-15 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB5920 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB5920-Introduced.html

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96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2009 and 2010 HB5920 Introduced 2/10/2010, by Rep. Lisa M. Dugan SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
705 ILCS 405/1-7 from Ch. 37, par. 801-7
Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that law enforcement agencies may release law enforcement records, when a minor's parent or legal guardian has signed a release and waiver of confidentiality, for the sole purpose of releasing those records to a teen court, peer court, or other juvenile division program as authorized by the Act. Provides that the program that receives such confidential records shall use those records only for the operation of the program and shall otherwise keep all such records confidential.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning courts.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Juvenile Court Act of 1987 is amended by
changing Section 1-7 as follows:
(705 ILCS 405/1-7) (from Ch. 37, par. 801-7)
Sec. 1-7. Confidentiality of law enforcement records.
(A) Inspection and copying of law enforcement records
maintained by law enforcement agencies that relate to a minor
who has been arrested or taken into custody before his or her
17th birthday shall be restricted to the following:
(1) Any local, State or federal law enforcement
officers of any jurisdiction or agency when necessary for
the discharge of their official duties during the
investigation or prosecution of a crime or relating to a
minor who has been adjudicated delinquent and there has
been a previous finding that the act which constitutes the
previous offense was committed in furtherance of criminal
activities by a criminal street gang, or, when necessary
for the discharge of its official duties in connection with
a particular investigation of the conduct of a law
enforcement officer, an independent agency or its staff
created by ordinance and charged by a unit of local

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government with the duty of investigating the conduct of
law enforcement officers. For purposes of this Section,
"criminal street gang" has the meaning ascribed to it in
Section 10 of the Illinois Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus
Prevention Act.
(2) Prosecutors, probation officers, social workers,
or other individuals assigned by the court to conduct a
pre-adjudication or pre-disposition investigation, and
individuals responsible for supervising or providing
temporary or permanent care and custody for minors pursuant
to the order of the juvenile court, when essential to
performing their responsibilities.
(3) Prosecutors and probation officers:
(a) in the course of a trial when institution of
criminal proceedings has been permitted or required
under Section 5-805; or
(b) when institution of criminal proceedings has
been permitted or required under Section 5-805 and such
minor is the subject of a proceeding to determine the
amount of bail; or
(c) when criminal proceedings have been permitted
or required under Section 5-805 and such minor is the
subject of a pre-trial investigation, pre-sentence
investigation, fitness hearing, or proceedings on an
application for probation.
(4) Adult and Juvenile Prisoner Review Board.

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(5) Authorized military personnel.
(6) Persons engaged in bona fide research, with the
permission of the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court and
the chief executive of the respective law enforcement
agency; provided that publication of such research results
in no disclosure of a minor's identity and protects the
confidentiality of the minor's record.
(7) Department of Children and Family Services child
protection investigators acting in their official
capacity.
(8) The appropriate school official. Inspection and
copying shall be limited to law enforcement records
transmitted to the appropriate school official by a local
law enforcement agency under a reciprocal reporting system
established and maintained between the school district and
the local law enforcement agency under Section 10-20.14 of
the School Code concerning a minor enrolled in a school
within the school district who has been arrested or taken
into custody for any of the following offenses:
(i) unlawful use of weapons under Section 24-1 of
the Criminal Code of 1961;
(ii) a violation of the Illinois Controlled
Substances Act;
(iii) a violation of the Cannabis Control Act;
(iv) a forcible felony as defined in Section 2-8 of
the Criminal Code of 1961; or

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(v) a violation of the Methamphetamine Control and
Community Protection Act.
(9) Mental health professionals on behalf of the
Illinois Department of Corrections or the Department of
Human Services or prosecutors who are evaluating,
prosecuting, or investigating a potential or actual
petition brought under the Sexually Violent Persons
Commitment Act relating to a person who is the subject of
juvenile law enforcement records or the respondent to a
petition brought under the Sexually Violent Persons
Commitment Act who is the subject of the juvenile law
enforcement records sought. Any records and any
information obtained from those records under this
paragraph (9) may be used only in sexually violent persons
commitment proceedings.
(B) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no law
enforcement officer or other person or agency may knowingly
transmit to the Department of Corrections, Adult Division
or the Department of State Police or to the Federal Bureau
of Investigation any fingerprint or photograph relating to
a minor who has been arrested or taken into custody before
his or her 17th birthday, unless the court in proceedings
under this Act authorizes the transmission or enters an
order under Section 5-805 permitting or requiring the
institution of criminal proceedings.
(2) Law enforcement officers or other persons or

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agencies shall transmit to the Department of State Police
copies of fingerprints and descriptions of all minors who
have been arrested or taken into custody before their 17th
birthday for the offense of unlawful use of weapons under
Article 24 of the Criminal Code of 1961, a Class X or Class
1 felony, a forcible felony as defined in Section 2-8 of
the Criminal Code of 1961, or a Class 2 or greater felony
under the Cannabis Control Act, the Illinois Controlled
Substances Act, the Methamphetamine Control and Community
Protection Act, or Chapter 4 of the Illinois Vehicle Code,
pursuant to Section 5 of the Criminal Identification Act.
Information reported to the Department pursuant to this
Section may be maintained with records that the Department
files pursuant to Section 2.1 of the Criminal
Identification Act. Nothing in this Act prohibits a law
enforcement agency from fingerprinting a minor taken into
custody or arrested before his or her 17th birthday for an
offense other than those listed in this paragraph (2).
(C) The records of law enforcement officers, or of an
independent agency created by ordinance and charged by a unit
of local government with the duty of investigating the conduct
of law enforcement officers, concerning all minors under 17
years of age must be maintained separate from the records of
arrests and may not be open to public inspection or their
contents disclosed to the public except by order of the court
presiding over matters pursuant to this Act or when the

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institution of criminal proceedings has been permitted or
required under Section 5-805 or such a person has been
convicted of a crime and is the subject of pre-sentence
investigation or proceedings on an application for probation or
when provided by law. For purposes of obtaining documents
pursuant to this Section, a civil subpoena is not an order of
the court.
(1) In cases where the law enforcement, or independent
agency, records concern a pending juvenile court case, the
party seeking to inspect the records shall provide actual
notice to the attorney or guardian ad litem of the minor
whose records are sought.
(2) In cases where the records concern a juvenile court
case that is no longer pending, the party seeking to
inspect the records shall provide actual notice to the
minor or the minor's parent or legal guardian, and the
matter shall be referred to the chief judge presiding over
matters pursuant to this Act.
(3) In determining whether the records should be
available for inspection, the court shall consider the
minor's interest in confidentiality and rehabilitation
over the moving party's interest in obtaining the
information. Any records obtained in violation of this
subsection (C) shall not be admissible in any criminal or
civil proceeding, or operate to disqualify a minor from
subsequently holding public office or securing employment,

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or operate as a forfeiture of any public benefit, right,
privilege, or right to receive any license granted by
public authority.
(D) Nothing contained in subsection (C) of this Section
shall prohibit the inspection or disclosure to victims and
witnesses of photographs contained in the records of law
enforcement agencies when the inspection and disclosure is
conducted in the presence of a law enforcement officer for the
purpose of the identification or apprehension of any person
subject to the provisions of this Act or for the investigation
or prosecution of any crime.
(E) Law enforcement officers, and personnel of an
independent agency created by ordinance and charged by a unit
of local government with the duty of investigating the conduct
of law enforcement officers, may not disclose the identity of
any minor in releasing information to the general public as to
the arrest, investigation or disposition of any case involving
a minor.
(F) Nothing contained in this Section shall prohibit law
enforcement agencies from communicating with each other by
letter, memorandum, teletype or intelligence alert bulletin or
other means the identity or other relevant information
pertaining to a person under 17 years of age if there are
reasonable grounds to believe that the person poses a real and
present danger to the safety of the public or law enforcement
officers. The information provided under this subsection (F)

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shall remain confidential and shall not be publicly disclosed,
except as otherwise allowed by law.
(G) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the right of a
Civil Service Commission or appointing authority of any state,
county or municipality examining the character and fitness of
an applicant for employment with a law enforcement agency,
correctional institution, or fire department from obtaining
and examining the records of any law enforcement agency
relating to any record of the applicant having been arrested or
taken into custody before the applicant's 17th birthday.
(H) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit law enforcement
agencies from releasing law enforcement records, when a minor's
parent or legal guardian has signed a release and waiver of
confidentiality, for the sole purpose of releasing those
records to a teen court, peer court, or other juvenile division
program as authorized by Section 5-315 of this Act. The program
that receives such confidential records shall use those records
only for the operation of the program and shall otherwise keep
all such records confidential pursuant to this Section.
(Source: P.A. 95-123, eff. 8-13-07; 96-419, eff. 8-13-09.)