Fla. Stat. § 985.11 — Florida Code / Title XLVII / Chapter 985 / Part III / Section 985.11
985.11 Fingerprinting and photographing.
Status: in_force

(1)(a) A child who is charged with or found to have committed an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult shall be fingerprinted and the fingerprints must be submitted to the Department of Law Enforcement as provided in s. 943.051(3)(a). (b) Unless the child is issued a prearrest delinquency citation pursuant to s. 985.12, a child who is charged with or found to have committed one of the following offenses shall be fingerprinted, and the fingerprints shall be submitted to the Department of Law Enforcement as provided in s. 943.051(3)(b): 1. Assault, as defined in s. 784.011. 2. Battery, as defined in s. 784.03. 3. Carrying a concealed weapon, as defined in s. 790.01(2). 4. Unlawful use of destructive devices or bombs, as defined in s. 790.1615(1). 5. Neglect of a child, as defined in s. 827.03(1)(e). 6. Assault on a law enforcement officer, a firefighter, or other specified persons, as provided in s. 784.07. 7. Open carrying of a weapon, as defined in s. 790.053. 8. Exposure of sexual organs, as defined in s. 800.03. 9. Unlawful possession of a firearm, as defined in s. 790.22(5). 10. Petit theft, as defined in s. 812.014. 11. Cruelty to animals, as defined in s. 828.12(1). 12. Arson, resulting in bodily harm to a firefighter, as defined in s. 806.031(1). 13. Unlawful possession or discharge of a weapon or firearm at a school-sponsored event or on school property as defined in s. 790.115. A law enforcement agency may fingerprint and photograph a child taken into custody upon probable cause that such child has committed any other violation of law, as the agency deems appropriate. Such fingerprint records and photographs shall be retained by the law enforcement agency in a separate file, and these records and all copies thereof must be marked “Juvenile Confidential.” These records are not available for public disclosure and inspection under s. 119.07(1) except as provided in ss. 943.053 and 985.04(2), but shall be available to other law enforcement agencies, criminal justice agencies, state attorneys, the courts, the child, the parents or legal custodians of the child, their attorneys, and any other person authorized by the court to have access to such records. In addition, such records may be submitted to the Department of Law Enforcement for inclusion in the state criminal history records and used by criminal justice agencies for criminal justice purposes. These records may, in the discretion of the court, be open to inspection by anyone upon a showing of cause. The fingerprint and photograph records shall be produced in the court whenever directed by the court. Any photograph taken pursuant to this section may be shown by a law enforcement officer to any victim or witness of a crime for the purpose of identifying the person who committed such crime. (c) The court shall be responsible for the fingerprinting of any child at the disposition hearing if the child has been adjudicated or had adjudication withheld for any felony in the case currently before the court.

(2) If the child is not referred to the court, or if the child is found not to have committed a violation of law, the court may, after notice to the law enforcement agency involved, order the originals and copies of the fingerprints and photographs destroyed. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, if the child is found to have committed an offense which would be a felony if it had been committed by an adult, then the law enforcement agency having custody of the fingerprint and photograph records shall retain the originals and immediately thereafter forward adequate duplicate copies to the court along with the written offense report relating to the matter for which the child was taken into custody. Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, the clerk of the court, after the disposition hearing on the case, shall forward duplicate copies of the fingerprints and photographs, together with the child’s name, address, date of birth, age, and sex, to: (a) The sheriff of the county in which the child was taken into custody, in order to maintain a central child identification file in that county. (b) The law enforcement agency of each municipality having a population in excess of 50,000 persons and located in the county of arrest, if so requested specifically or by a general request by that agency.

(3) This section does not prohibit the fingerprinting or photographing of child traffic violators. All records of such traffic violations shall be kept in the full name of the violator and shall be open to inspection and publication in the same manner as adult traffic violations. This section does not apply to the photographing of children by the Department of Juvenile Justice or the Department of Children and Families.

History: s. 5, ch. 90-208; s. 6, ch. 93-204; s. 28, ch. 94-209; s. 8, ch. 95-267; s. 2, ch. 96-293; s. 20, ch. 96-322; s. 17, ch. 96-388; s. 13, ch. 96-406; s. 162, ch. 97-101; s. 20, ch. 97-238; s. 14, ch. 99-284; s. 2, ch. 2002-51; s. 17, ch. 2006-120; s. 7, ch. 2007-112; s. 64, ch. 2013-116; s. 346, ch. 2014-19; s. 10, ch. 2014-162; s. 3, ch. 2015-46; s. 13, ch. 2016-78; s. 35, ch. 2023-18; s. 25, ch. 2024-130; s. 4, ch. 2025-73.