releasing information on open cases of juveniles

[hbroussard]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas


In Westlake, TX the police department releases records of minors who have been arrested, but not convicted, for crimes.

The police will contact the public school that the juvenile attends and inform school officials of the details of the arrest so that the school can take disciplinary actions. These children will then be punished in varying ways before a conviction of guilt is reached.
The children's teachers are informed of the arrest, the child will face suspension from any clubs, organizations, or sporting teams that he/she is a member of, and other disciplinary measures may be taken.

Is this legal? If it is, what laws support this?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by hbroussard

Is this legal?

Yes.

If it is, what laws support this?

The law doesn't work that way. Laws are passed to PROHIBIT or PREVENT activity... not to say that something is okay.

If a juveniles SUSPECTED conduct could be of a danger to others, it is not unreasonable to let those potential 'victims' know of the threat.

[Adalaide78]

Teacher has sexual contact with one or more students. Teacher is out on bail and trial is months away. Why not let the teacher keep teaching? I mean, they haven't actually been convicted of anything, what if they didn't really do it? I'm sure the teacher's spouse isn't going to wait for the guilty verdict to file for a divorce later. Let the child learn from the start that actions have consequences, welcome to the real world.

[hbroussard]

What i found out about the case in Westlake was that the police department of Westlake has set up a deal with the Westlake School system to report all crimes dealing with alcohol drugs etc. that juveniles attending the school have been arrested for, back to school officials. This policy was put in place by the football coach to keep tabs on his players but now has grown to apply to all students of the school.

No other police department in the city of Austin follows this policy except for the Westlake police department

With a case that does not happen on school grounds and does not pose any immediate threat to the students, (charges of MIC, MIP, etc.) does this constitute as a violation of the students right to privacy or any other rights?

especially since the police are the ones contacting to school, not the other way around?

[IsabellaSoriano]

Originally Posted by hbroussard

What i found out about the case in Westlake was that the police department of Westlake has set up a deal with the Westlake School system to report all crimes dealing with alcohol drugs etc. that juveniles attending the school have been arrested for, back to school officials. This policy was put in place by the football coach to keep tabs on his players but now has grown to apply to all students of the school.

No other police department in the city of Austin follows this policy except for the Westlake police department

With a case that does not happen on school grounds and does not pose any immediate threat to the students, (charges of MIC, MIP, etc.) does this constitute as a violation of the students right to privacy or any other rights?

especially since the police are the ones contacting to school, not the other way around?

nope. the police department didn't do anything illegal.

[CdwJava]

Have you consulted any attorney knowledgeable on juvenile reporting laws in your state? If not, perhaps you should do so.

The Texas statutes are voluminous, and any specific statutes concerning whether or not this sort of off campus information can or should be reported to the school could be hidden in any one of them.

If you have a child that has been "damaged" by this revelation (in other words, damaged by their underage consumption of alcohol) then you should consult an attorney to see whether the police overstepped their bounds. I suspect they did not, but I am not that well-versed on TX law.

- Carl

[CavemanLawyer]

Section 411.083 of the Texas Family Code allows for interagency sharing of certain records between a school district and the juvenile probation department. It would have to be the probation dept./juvenile court disclosing the records to the ISD however, not the police department. Furthermore, things like MICs and MIPs typically are not referred to the juvenile court, they are handled in municipal and/or justice courts. These courts cannot setup such an interagency document sharing agreement with the ISD. A juvenile court always has the authority to release any of a juvenile's records to any interested party if there is sufficient cause. This would have to be done on a case by case basis however.

But if the police department is merely making a phone call and not disseminating any records then there is nothing improper. The name of the juvenile and the fact that they have been alleged to have committed an offense is not confidential. It is no different than a concerned parent learning of this fact and reporting it to that student's school. The school is free to take administrative action as it sees fit based on whatever information it has, so long as it complies with the law and their own code of conduct.

When it comes to juveniles, records are confidential. Information itself isn't necessarily confidential and can be disseminated. Even the local media will disseminate this information if its already been released to the public. They only keep juvenile's names confidential as a matter of courtesy when that information is not already publicly known for some reason.

[stealth2]

Y'all are doing this dude's homework.

[Zigner]

See also: http://forum.freeadvice.com/juvenile-law-90/article-im-researching-ut-i-will-cite-you-my-paper-so-cool-490856.html

this is for an article I'm researching for UT!! I will cite you in my paper! so cool!

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TEXAS

Is it legal for police to release the records of juveniles in open cases where there is not yet a conviction, only an arrest

specifically to school officials?


- I feel like there is an ethical problem here, because the police are seeking to punish offenders through defacto means instead of through formal convictions.