Evening star., 1951-06-04
Suey Committee Urq Free Flow Of Information From Juvenile Court

Ition to the right of the Court to
release information is confused
Part of this confusion is the result
of recent directives issued by the
court, which narrowly restrict the
release of information contained
lin both the legal and social rec
ords to accredited welfare and
other agencies. This represents a
departure from practices which
have heretofore been followed in
1.-THE court"
While lodging the question OF
whether a new law is needed-as
1.-THE Judge contends--to make the
social records available to commu-
nifty agencies, the committee made
these recommendations on the
records:
1. The Juvenile Court judge
rather than District Court-should
have the primary discretion in de-
termining who can inspect Juve-
nile Court records, but appeal to
Ia higher court should be provided.
At present. the law provides that
District Court has the authority to
order the records produced but
Judge Cock1ill has obtained agree
|ment from District Court to order
only legal records.
2. The law should be amended
to enable Juvenile Court to send
a summary of it's information
about a child to the child-placing
agency before the child is actually
committed. Advance information
formerly went to the Board Of
Public Welfare out Judge Cockrill
cut that off and the committee
said under present law, the in
formation cannot be sent until the
commitment is ordered.
8. A court-appointed committee
should, as soon as possible, study
the problems surrounding inspec-
ton of records and exchange of
information with a view to devel-
oping procedures and recommend
ing changes in legislation where
necessary.
Doubtful on Discretion.
When Judge Cockrill was asked
at press conference whether she
would appoint such committee.
she said she didn't know what
kind to appoint.
William H. Sheridan, of the
Children's Bureau, secretary of the
study committee, said it would be
up to this new committee to
clarity" the whole information
picture. He said the study COM
mittee fs not saying one way or
another whether 1t can be done
under present law"
But Judge Cockrill, at her press
conference on the report, said she
did not believe she had discretion
to release information under the
present law.
1--WE made what I consider an
Interpretation of the law" she
said. "I don't believe there is any
procedure that would lend itself
to agreeing to this or that. I have
a responsibility to follow the law"
The study committee, in its re-
port. raised a question as to
whether permitting visitors to
court is permissible under the
present law. Judge Cockrill has
been allowing visitors to watch
the proceedings.
Admits Inconsistency.
Asked If she would continue to
admit visitors since that was ap-
|parently against the law, too,
Judge Cockrill replied: II don't
know" She acknowledged that
admitting visitors was perhaps
inconsistent" but she said that
had not been previously pointed
Iout.
She said she inherited" the
practice of admitting visitors.
When reporters pointed out that
she had also inherited" the prac-
tice of giving information to
other community agencies. but
she had changed that one. she
did not reply.
In making the report public.
Judge Cockrill issued a statement
which said in part:
THE report is critical of many
phases of the courts work. The
criticisms are. however. in my
opinion. objective and construc-
tive and therefore will be very
helpful in planning for the future
of the court. Many of the areas
of criticism have been the cause
of concern to me and other mem
bers of the staff, but limitations
as to time and personnel have
prevented effective measures be-
ing taken to correct them.
"The recommendations of the
committee are. in my Judgment,
sound and worthy of careful con-
sideration. Some of them can be
put into effect without undue de-
lay: others will require substan-
tial reorganization and long-range
planning; some will doubtless re-
quire legislation; still others may
not be practical within the courts
present physical. personnel and
budgetary limitations. With a
few relatively minor exceptions
or notifications / can and do
accept the committees recon-
mendations as objectives toward
which 1 can honestly work"
Doesn't Specify Changes.
At her press conference, Judge
Cockrill was asked specifically
what recommendations could be
put into effect Immediately. When
they can be used in an aggressive
mission against the 9th Army"
Key to this is the Iron TRAN