# THEATTORNEYGENERAL OF’ TEXAS 

# R4 944 Aunm~. TEXAS 787ll

May 23, 1975
The Honorable Forrest Smith Chairman Texas Youth Council Sam Houston State Office Building 201 East 14thStreet Austin, Texas 78701 Dear Chairman Smith: Opinion No. H- 615 Re: Whether various public agencies may disseminate information onjuveniles to a private data bank.

You have requested our opinion regarding whether various public agencies may disseminate information onjuveniles to a private data bank.

Pursuant to this request, you submit for our inspection an “Automated Interagency Information Management System Memorandum ofAgreement, ” whereby anumber ofpublic entities inDallas County propose to become

“sponsors” ofanAutomated Interagency Information Management System (hereinafter referred to as AIIMS), whose purpose is to “provide information to facilitate research, planning and outreach programs directed at reducing and preventing juvenile delinquency inthe community ofWest Dallas. ” “Overall fiscal and administrative management” will be performed by a private agency known as Common Concern until June 30, 1975, when these responsibilities will be assumed by a “Steering Committee” composed of the representatives of the parties to the agreement and “associated agencies, institutions and interested parties. ” The original sponsors, in addition to Common Concern, include the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Independent School District, the Dallas Juvenile Courts Division, and the Urban Planning Department ofthe City of Dallas.

Under the terms ofthe Agreement, each sponsor will provide information onjuveniles toAIIMS, including both individual and aggregate data. As to the individual data, the Agreement provides:

All information shall be classified and maintained inthe data bank in such amanner that any individual can neither be identified nor traced nor profiled by any reasonable person.

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The Dallas Police Department agrees to provide information regarding each arrest made of ajuvenile inthe target area, including race, sex, place ofbirth, date ofbirth, and avariety of other data relating to thejuvenile’s arrest and.the ultimate disposition ofhis case. The individual’s name is not supplied, but his file is tagged with an
“identification number” for the internal use ofthe Police Department. His current address is furnished only as a “Mapsco code number. ”

The Dallas Independent School District will submit information about each student enrolled ina school inthe target area, including name of school, as well as thejuvenile’s race, sex, place ofbirth, date ofbirth, and other data relating to school performance and family background. Again, the individual’s name is omitted, but his file contains an “identification number” used by the School District. His current address is represented only as a “Mapsco code number. ”

The Dallas County Juvenile Courts Division is to furnish information as to race, sex, place ofbirth, date ofbirth, and a variety of other data regarding the referral of an individual to thejuvenile courts division, including any involvement with drugs. The juvenile’s name is not supplied, but his file is tagged with a “county identification number” for the internal use of the,Juvenile Courts Division.

The Urban Planning Department ofthe City of Dallas will furnish

“relevant demographic data concerning the target area. ” Inaddition to the information regarding individual juveniles, the School District and the Juvenile Courts Division also agree to submit data inaggregate form.

Section 51.14 of the Family Code provides, inpertinent part:

(a) All files and records ofajuvenile court, a clerk of court, or aprosecuting attorney relating to a child who is aparty to a proceeding under this title are open to inspection only by: (1) thejudge, probation officers, and professional staff or consultants ofthejuvenile court; (2) an attorney for aparty to the proceeding; (3) apublic or private agency or institution providing supervision of the child by arrangement of thejuvenile court, or having custody ofthe child under juvenile court order; or

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(4) with leave ofjuvenile court, any other person, agency, or institution having alegitimate interest inthe proceeding or in thework of the court.

. . . (c) Law-enforcement files and records concerning a child shall be kept separate from files and records of arrests of adults and shall be maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository. (d) Except for files and records relating to a charge for which a child is transferred under Section 54.02 of this code to a criminal court for prosecution, the lawenforcement files and records are not open to public inspection nor may their contents be disclosed to the public, but inspection ofthe files and records is permitted by: (1) ajuvenile court having the child before it inany proceeding; (2) an attorney for a party to the proceeding; and (3) law-enforcement officers when necessary for the discharge oftheir official duties. Section 51.14 sets strictly circumscribed limits to the authority of a juvenile court or alaw enforcement agency to permit access ofthe files and records of individual juveniles. As we recently held inAttorney General Opinion No. H-529 (1975):

Section 51.14 is designed to preserve the traditional confidentiality offiles and records concerning juvenile proceedings.

. . . However, general statistical data which provides no real opportunity for identification of thejuvenile offender innoway threatens such confidentiality. We therefore construe the language “records”, “relating to child” or “concerning a child” as contained in section 51.14 to include only those records which furnish abasis for the identification of the child.

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We have been advised that individual AIIMS sponsors will notbe granted access to any information inthe data bank regarding particular juveniles. Only “general statistical data, which provides no real opportunity for the.identification ofthejuvenile offender, ” will be available to the sponsors. Thus, the AIIMS Agreement appears to meet that standard of confidentiality which we held inOpinion No. H-529 to be required ofjuvenile courts and law enforcement agencies by section 51.14.

A similar standard of confidentiality is required of school districts receiving federal funds by the Family Educational and Privacy Rights Act, 20 U.S. C. §1232g, which prohibits “the release ofpersonally identifiable records or files (or personal information contained therein) of students without the written consent of their parent% ” Itis thus our opinion that the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Independent School District, and the Dallas County Juvenile Courts Division may each furnish to AIIMS the information contemplated under the Agreement, so long as such data, whether considered separately or collectively, does not provide a basis for the identification of any individual juvenile. SUMMARY The Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Independent School District, and the Dallas County Juvenile Courts Division may disseminate particular information on juveniles to aprivate data bank so long as the information does not reasonably furnish the basis for the identification of individual juveniles.
/Y ery truly yours,

Attorney General of Texas r-APPROVED:

Opinion Committee jwb

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