The Data Dissemination Committee approved this request at their meeting on May 30, 2012.

At present, when a subject or his designee requests a copy of his/her Defendant Criminal History (DCH) from the court, the subject or designee receives a copy of the "court view" of the DCH. If the subject has a sealed juvenile case, information about the existence of that case is included on the DCH, with the notation that it is a sealed case (the information included is the case number, the name of the court, names of the parties, the notation "case sealed", the case type and charge unless the conviction has been vacated, in which case the information displayed is case number, case type, court, and the notation "vacated.") However, because of the statutory restrictions on access to information about sealed juvenile cases, the Judicial Information Systems Committee (JISC) Data Dissemination Committee recommends that no information on sealed juvenile cases be provided on the copy of the DCH given to the subject or his designee. The JISC Data Dissemination Committee recommends that courts be able to print out a view of the DCH for the subject that does not include any sealed juvenile case information.

This enhancement would provide the opportunity to ensure that no information on the existence of a sealed case will be provided by the court to anyone other than prosecutors and other courts.

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) proposes to conduct an in depth analysis in order to identify the solution options for this request.

AOC proposes to conduct an in depth analysis in order to identify the solution options for this request. The in depth analysis will identify a recommended solution and the effort required to implement the solution.

At the DDC mmeting on December 7, 2012, the committee voted to return this request to AOC for further analysis with the attached clarifications included. 

Problem:   District and municipal court staff often help customers that request a copy of the case history (ICH) or the criminal history (DCH) on either themselves or on an individual if they have a release of information form.    When the court employees use the ICH/DCH commands in JIS, their JIS security access level allows them to view sealed juvenile offender cases.   However, per RCW 13.50.050(14), once a juvenile offender case is sealed, “the proceedings shall be treated as if it never occurred.”    

The existence of a sealed juvenile offender case should not be printed on a report that is then given to the public.   Due to the business process and sometimes large demand for copies of this information, the access to a public version of this report needs to be kept easy and simple.   

Therefore, we would recommend that the court users can still print the report for the customer from the same screen that they can do so now (DCH or ICH), just add another option to print a public version.  The public version would have no sealed juvenile cases and the “confidential – not for release” message would not be displayed.  Consensus was that this public version of the report can come from the data warehouse, as the “real time” issue is not a detriment. If the data warehouse as the source for this public report makes this easier, cheaper to do, that would be great.   We prefer whatever is easier.   JABS would not be changed at all. 

1.     On the DCH/ICH screens, add another option to print a “public version” of the report that filters out all sealed juvenile cases.

At present, when a subject or his designee requests a copy of his/her Defendant Criminal History (DCH) from the court, the subject or designee receives a copy of the “court view” of the DCH. If the subject has a sealed juvenile case, information about the existence of that case is included on the DCH, with the notation that it is a sealed case (the information included is the case number, the name of the court, names of the parties, the notation "case sealed", the case type and charge unless the conviction has been vacated, in which case the information displayed is case number, case type, court, and the notation "vacated.") However, because of the statutory restrictions on access to information about sealed juvenile cases, the Judicial Information Systems Committee (JISC) Data Dissemination Committee recommends that no information on sealed juvenile cases be provided on the copy of the DCH given to the subject or his designee.  The JISC Data Dissemination Committee recommends that courts be able to print out a view of the DCH for the subject that does not include any sealed juvenile case information and that this is added as an option only on the current DCH screen.

This enhancement would provide the opportunity to ensure that no information on the existence of a sealed case will be provided by the court to anyone other than prosecutors and other courts.

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) proposes to modify the DCH screen by adding an option to print the DCH without including any information on sealed juvenile cases sealed cases. 

AOC proposes to modify the DCH screen by adding an option to print the DCH without including any information on sealed juvenile cases sealed cases.  Currently, the printed DCH includes the phrase “Confidential – Not for Release”.  The new print option will replace this with the phrase “Defendant’s Case History Copy”, or a similar phrase. 

At its meeting on January 3, 2013, the JISC Data Dissemination Committee discussed the revised analysis of ITG 152 and endorsed going ahead with this Request.  It is the intent of the Data Dissemination Committee that the subject of the report (or his designee) only be able to request a copy of the DCH screen that does not contain information on sealed juvenile cases, absent a court order.

Additional comments entered on behalf of Commission on Children in Foster Care:

Given the cross system prevalence of foster children involved in the juvenile justice system, this proposal is one that the Commission on Children in Foster Care would support.  Outcome data on Foster youth/former foster youth is relatively poor, especially when compared to youth who have no history of involvement in the child welfare system.  A juvenile record creates additional barriers to a successful independent adulthood.  If a former foster youth/juvenile offender has met the requirements for sealing and then taken the initiative to have a record sealed, the effort is undermined by the inclusion of information of a sealed record on a defendant case history report.  This proposed change would be a small step toward facilitating better life outcomes for these individuals.