GR 9 COVER SHEET

 

1. Name of Proponent: The Washington State Office of Public Defense and the Minority and Justice Commission….
2. Spokesperson: George Yeannakis, Office of Public Defense
3. Purpose: Amendment to GR 31 Access to Court Records

 

Introduction

 

These proposed amendments to GR 31, Access to Court Records, aim to ensure that courts across Washington State treat juvenile records consistently, comply with the Washington State Constitution, and recognize the severe and long-lasting impact of the electronic dissemination of a juvenile court record. This is critical for all youth and particularly youth of color since we know that

 

[o]ne of the most consistent findings in the research on the juvenile justice system is that race matters. Race matters in Washington State just as it matters across the United States. Studies conducted in numerous states have demonstrated that race shapes decisions at various stages in the juvenile justice process, independent of the severity of the offense and of the individual’s criminal history

HEATHER D. EVANS & STEVEN HERBERT, JUVENILES SENTENCED AS ADULTS IN WASHINGTON STATE, 2009-2019 (June 2021) available at https://www.opd.wa.gov/documents/00866-2021_AOCreport.pdf.

 

The Administrative Office of the Courts adopted a policy, after careful consideration, to not display juvenile court records on a publicly accessible website and to exclude juvenile offender court records from bulk distribution.

The Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) tracks statewide case information and records through its Judicial Information System (JIS), ACORDS, and Odyssey. To respond to the numerous issues and policy implications of the electronic distribution of court information, the Judicial Information System Committee (JISC) established the JIS Data Dissemination Committee (JISDDC), which makes policies regarding AOC’s dissemination of computer-based court records.^[1]  AOC, through its JISDDC, responded to the demonstrated harms of displaying juvenile offender records publicly online and distributing juvenile offender records to large private data aggregators by imposing limits through Section V of its Data Dissemination Policy:

A.  Juvenile offender court records shall be excluded from any bulk distribution of JIS records by the AOC otherwise authorized by GR 31(g), except for research purposes as permitted by statute or court rule.

B. The AOC shall not display any information from an official juvenile offender court record on a publicly-accessible website that is a statewide index of court cases.

AOC’s limits were adopted after extensive discussion and consideration. These limits have been in place since 2008. However, rather than following AOC’s policy limiting the display of juvenile court records on a publicly accessible website, some counties (e.g. King County through its new electronic records portal) now provide broad, online public access to “juvenile offender cases” though a publicly accessible website. See King County Script public access search site, available at https://dja-prd-ecexap1.kingcounty.gov/?q=Home.

 

Immediate action is needed because the harms of available juvenile court records are acute and are intensified by display on a publicly accessible website.

 

 “A publicly available juvenile court record has very real and objectively observable negative consequences, including denial of ‘housing, employment, and education opportunities.’” (State v. S.J.C., 183 Wash. 2d 408, 432, 352 P.3d 749, 761, 2015). In public housing, a single juvenile offense might result in the entire family’s eviction. (See Ashley Nellis, “Addressing the Collateral Consequences of Convictions for Young Offenders,” 35 THE CHAMPION 20, 23, 2011.) In addition, a juvenile court record can foreclose employment possibilities and make it harder it to obtain even a high school diploma, much less post-secondary education. (See Ashley Nellis.)

 

In 2014, the Legislature declared that “it is the policy of the state of Washington that the interest in juvenile rehabilitation and reintegration constitutes compelling circumstances that outweigh the public interest in continued availability of juvenile court records.” Laws of 2014, ch. 175, § 1. The Legislature has also provided a pathway to seal juvenile court records. RCW 13.50.260.

 

Washington State is one of seven states in the country that “categorically make all juvenile records public though there are exceptions even within these states. Juvenile Law Center, JUVENILE RECORDS A National Review of State Laws on Confidentiality, Sealing and Expungement, pg. 15 (2014) available at national-review.pdf (jlc.org). By providing online, public access to juvenile records, the harms of publicly available juvenile records are intensified and are more far-reaching. That’s because:

the emergence of the internet has enabled instant access to many digital records, and services like Intelius.com or beenverified.com make searching names cheap, quick, and easy. Moreover, some jurisdictions have cut out the middleman and have created databases to allow online searches of court records. McMullen, Judith, Invisible Stripes: The Problem of Youth Criminal Records, 27 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REVIEW OF LAW & SOCIAL JUSTICE 1 (2018) available at Invisible Stripes: The Problem of Youth Criminal Records by Judith G. McMullen :: SSRN (citations omitted).

As a result, “[a]ny potential school, landlord, or employer can easily access information about a subject's contacts with the law-- indeed, any curious citizen can mine this information at will.”  Id.  In addition, the sealing of juvenile court records is undermined if not rendered useless if a youth’s name is routinely published online. "Once information becomes publicly accessible, it cannot be made confidential again.” Jacobs, James, THE ETERNAL CRIMINAL RECORD, at 22 (2015).

Action must be taken to help ensure that youth can truly have their case sealed and treated as though it never occurred so they can reach their full potential. To meet this goal, we made the following recommendations for suggested rule changes:

·         Prevent the display of juvenile court records on a publicly accessible website

·         Specifically prohibit the bulk distribution of juvenile court records.

 

The proposed amendments to GR 31

 

(d) Access.

. . . .

(2) Information from an official juvenile offender court record shall not be displayed on a publicly accessible website. The only exception to this rule is if the website is accessed from a physical county clerk’s office location.

(2) (3) Each court by action of a majority of the judges may from time to time make and amend local rules governing access to court records not inconsistent with this rule.

(3) (4) A fee may not be charged to view court records at the courthouse.

. . . .

(g) Bulk Distribution of Court Records.

. . . .

(2) Dissemination contracts shall not include the dissemination or distribution of juvenile court records.

(2) (3) A request for bulk distribution of court records may be denied if providing the information will create an undue burden on court or court clerk operations because of the amount of equipment, materials, staff time, computer time or other resources required to satisfy the request.

(3) (4) The use of court records, distributed in bulk form, for the purpose of commercial solicitation of individuals named in the court records is prohibited.

Conclusion and request for expedited consideration

 

The proposed amendments to GR 31 address the severe, long-lasting impact that access to juvenile court records, including on a publicly accessible website, causes to youth involved in the justice system, who are disproportionately youth of color.