February 17. 1975 

The Honorable Wilson E. Speir 

Director 

Opinion No. H- 529 

Texas Department of Public Safety 

P. 0. Box 4087 

Austin, Texas 78773 

Re: Whether, under the Family 

Code, local officials may 

furnish Texas Department of 

Public Safety with statistics 

on juvenile crime. 

Dear Colonel Speir: 

You have requested our opinion concerning the effect of section 

51.14 of the Family Code on the Department of Public Safety’s duty to 

compile statistics concerning the number a~nd naturg~ of criminal offenses 

committed within the State. V. T. C. S., arts. 4413(14), 4476-15, $5.14. 

Article 4413 (14), V. T. C. S., provides in part: 

The Bureau [of Identification and Records] shall 

collect information concerning the number and 

nature of offenses known to have been committed 

in the State, of the legal steps taken in connection 

therewith, and such‘other information aa may be 

useful in the study of crime and the administration 

of justice. 

Section 5.14 of article 4476-15 provides: 

All law enforcement agencies in this state shall 

file semiannually with the director a report of 

all arrests for drug offenses made by them during 

the preceeding six months. Such reports shall be 

made on forms provided by the director, and shall 

contain such information as required therein. 

p. 2386 
. . . 

The Honorable Wilson E. Speir page 2 (H- 529) 

The Department of Public Safety has submitted copies of the forma 

utilized to collect this information, those being IR-40A (REV l-74) and 

IR-103. These forms deal only with the nature and number of crimes 

committed and the age, race, and sex of the offender. The forms contain 

no information which could lead to the identity~mof~ the offender.---mu 

Section 51.14 of the Family Code provide8 in part: 

(a) All filea and records of a juvenile court, 

a clerk of court, or a prosecuting attorney relating 

to a child who is a party to a proceeding under thio 

title are open to inspection only by: 

(1) the judge, probation officers, and profearional 

staff or consultanta of the juvenile court; 

(2) an attorney for a party to the proceeding; 

(3) a public or private agency or institution 

providing supervision of the child by arrangement 

of the juvenile court, or having cucltody of the child 

under juvenile court order: or 

(4) with leave of juvenile court, any other peraon, 

agency, or institution having a legitimate interest in 

the proceeding or in the work of the court . . . . 

(c) Law-enforcement files and records concerning 

a child shall be kept separate from files and records 

of arreate of adults and ahall 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 io tranrferred under Section 

54.02 of this code to a criminal court for ~prosecution, 

the law-enforcement files and records are not open to 

public inspection nor may their contents be disclosed 

to the public, but inspection of the files and records 

is permitted by: 

p. 2387 
The Honorable Wilron E. Speir page 3 (H-529) 

(1) a juvenile court having the child before it 

in any proceeding: 

(2) an attorney for a party to the proceeding: 

and 

(3) law-enforcement officers when necersary 

for the discharge of their official duties. 

Section 51.16 of the Family Code deals with the sealing of juvenile 

files and records, providing in part: 

(e) On entry of the order: 

(1) all law-enforcement, prosecuting attorney, 

clerk of court, and juvenile court files and records 

ordered sealed shall be sent to the court issuing the 

order: 

(2) all files and records of a public or private 

agency or institution ordered sealed shall be rent~to 

the court issuing the order; 

(3) all index references to the files and record8 

ordered sealed shall be deleted: 

(4) the juvenile court, clerk of court, prosecuting 

attorney, public or private agency or institution, and 

law-enforcement officers and agencies shall properly 

reply that no record exists with respect to such person 

upon inquiry in any matter; and 

(5) the adjudication shall be vacated and the proceeding dismissed and treated for all purposes, including the 

purpose of showing a prior finding of delinquency, aa if 

it had never occurred. 

Section 51.14 is designed to preserve the traditional confidentiality 

of files and records concerning juvenile proceedingr. Symposium, Texas 

Family Code, 5 Texas Tech Law Review,p. 533 (1974). However, general 

statistical data which provides no real opportunity for identification of the 

juvenile offender in no way threatens such confidentiality. We therefore 

construe the language “records” “relating to child” or “concerning a child” 

p. 2388 
.: . 

The Honorable Wilson E. Speir page 4 (H-529) 

as contained in section 51.14 to include only those records which furnish 

a basis for the identification of the child. Since the records submitted 

on forms IR-40A (REV l-74) and IR-103 purruant to articles 4413(14) and 

4476-15, section 5.14, do not provide such a basis, they may be furnished 

to the Department of Public Safety. 

SUMMARY 

Statistics concerning the nature and number of 

criminal offense8 committed within a particular 

jurisdiction may be submitted to the Department 

of Public Safety provided that such statistics furnirh 

no basis for identification of a ‘juvenile offender. 

.Very truly yourr, 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

Y 

DAVID&i. KENDA, LL. First Assistant 

zz?icia 

C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

lg 

p. 2389