Evening star., 1952-02-20
Juvenile
Measure Awaits
Senate Action
Compromise okuyed
By District Group
Eases Secrecy

Eases secrecy
Senate approval soon will be
asked for an amendment to the
District Juvenile Court Act to
permit wider use Of the court rec
ords by persons with legitimate
interests. but only at the discretion
Of the judge Of that court.
Discretion for any non-court use
Of case records and social work
flles would be vested. solely in the
Juvenile Court Judge, under the
now revised compromise bill.
The issue, which last year
stirred the court staff and outside
welfare and police groups needing
court data for their own work, had
been under study for months by
the District Committee. The COM
promise measure won approval
with only brief explanation and
change.
General Endorsement.
In general, the bill has the In
dorsement Of the Board of COM
missioners, Judge Edith Cockrill
of Juvenile Court. the District Bar
Association and a number Of the
social agencies Of the District, the
Senate report said.
The final draft Of the bill, as
by the District Commit
tee, was regarded as supporting.
in general Judge Cockrill. She won
committee support for her conten-
tion that the judge Of Juvenile
Court should be the one to decide
when the present secrecy rules
should be broadened.
Under present law, there can
be an appeal to the United States
District Court in some contests
over Juvenile Court secrecy of rec
ords and files. The new bill drops
this.a Some Senators said they
thought there should not be any
ouai JURISDICTION. &
Another Provision Eliminated.
Also. one Of the earlier drafts
Of the revision bill would have
specified that the Board Of Pub
lie Welfare be entitled to some Of
the Juvenile Court records, as nec-
essary to welfare service. This,
too, went out as a separate list
ing, but Of course could be granted
by decision by the Juvenile Court
judge.
A cloak Of secrecy was thrown
around Juvenile Court cases when
the agency was created as a means
of protecting youthful miscreants
from the damaging effects Of pub
|licity.
More recently, protests arose In
the court itself. and some court
agents resigned in the dispute,
that this had been carried too far.
Judge Cockrill asserted she could
not reveal even to other city agen.
cies much demanded information
under the wording of the present
law.
One of the provisions Of the
new bill would restrict the time
for which child. involved in q
court case, could be held in the
District Receiving Home or other
place of detention The bill would
limit this to not more than five
days, excluding Sundays and
holidays. But even here, the bin
would give the judge of Juvenile
Court the power to order longer
detention.
Eases Ban to Hearings.
The new bill also would pre-
scribe that the general public be
excluded, as now, from hearings
in Juvenile Court cases. Gener-
ally, only persons having q di.
rect interest and their represent
atives are to be admitted, but the
bill would provide that the Judge
might admit other persons DEEM
ed to have a legitimate interest
in the case or lin the work Of
the court"
Court records would be with.
held from indiscriminate public
inspection. These would be open
to respondents, their parents or
guardians and their duly author
lied attorneys and to any agency
to which a court ward Is com.
mitted.
The judge also would be al
lowed to make them available to
other persons. institutions and
agencies.
Restriction on Use.
A restriction. however. was left
in the bill as to the outside" use
that might be made of the
so-called social records of Juve-
nile Court cases. Again, the deci-
sion would be vested with the
judge Of the court. Eliminated
was an earlier version which
would have named the Board Of
Public Welfare and its duly au-
thorized agents as eligible to in
spect such social records.
Tied to the new provision.
under which some agencies could
receive such records. was a pro-
hibition against the use of such
information for any purpose other
than that authorized by the
court. A last-minute amendment
would add a penalty clause. pre-
scribing a fine UP to 500 or
Imprisonment up to 80 days. or
both, for unauthorized disclosures.
ON ~ NJ hs