Court Opinion

ID: 9558407
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:09:04.563982+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:11.835355
License: Public Domain

OPINION
McGregor, judge.
The issue raised in this appeal is whether Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (A.R.S.) section 8-241.0 authorizes a juvenile court judge to order that the Arizona Department of Public Safety accept a juvenile's fingerprint records as part of the agency’s automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) when the juvenile’s offense would not rise to the level of a felony if committed by an adult. We conclude the statute does not confer such authority and vacate a portion of the juvenile court’s order.
I.
On February 13, 1996, the juvenile court adjudicated the juvenile delinquent after he admitted to a charge of criminal damage, a misdemeanor offense. The court placed him on probation and ordered him to complete eighty hours of community service. On two subsequent occasions, the juvenile court continued the juvenile on probation after he admitted violating his probation by shoplifting, a misdemeanor offense, and by failing to complete his community work hours.
Two petitions filed in December 1996 charged the juvenile with violating his probation by compiling seventeen unexcused absences from school and committing shoplifting, a class 1 misdemeanor. At a combined adjudication/disposition hearing held on February 14, 1997, the juvenile court accepted the juvenile’s admission to an amended count of attempted shoplifting and adjudicated him delinquent. The court ordered that he be continued on probation but added several special probationary terms, including a requirement, based upon A.R.S. section 8-241.0 (Supp.1996), that his fingerprints be entered into AFIS within one week.
The juvenile subsequently moved the juvenile court to strike the fingerprint requirement. Following a hearing held on March 10, 1997, the court denied the motion. The court reasoned that although A.R.S. section *3608-241.0 does not require a court to submit to AFIS the fingerprints of juveniles adjudicated on misdemeanor charges, the statute does not prohibit such an action. Recognizing that the court’s previous efforts had not deterred the juvenile from violating the terms of his probation and the law, the court found it “appropriate to add such as a condition of probation so the juvenile will - realize if he commits other offenses his fingerprints being on file will make it easier for the police to identify him. Consequently, this requirement the legislature has established ... on felony offenses, can have a rehabilitative effect and be another tool to persuade the juvenile to not violate the laws and the rights of other people.”
The juvenile filed a timely notice of appeal from the juvenile court’s disposition. This court stayed execution of the fingerprinting order pending disposition of the appeal.
II.
The legislature established AFIS in 1990 “for the purpose of retaining fingerprint files to be used by the department [of public safety] and other authorized criminal justice automated fingerprint identification sites to make fingerprint identifications for criminal justice and noncriminal justice purposes specifically permitted pursuant to law.” A.R.S. § 41-2411.A (Supp.1996). The legislature also appropriated funds to establish, operate, and administer the system. A.R.S. § 41-2414. As enacted, the statute applied only to the criminal justice system and did not include juvenile offenders among those whose fingerprint files were submitted to AFIS. In 1996, however, the legislature enacted A.R.S. section 8-241.0, with an effective date of January 1, 1997. That statute provides in pertinent part:
If a juvenile has been adjudicated delinquent for an offense that if committed by an adult would be a felony, the court shall provide the department of public safety Arizona automated fingerprint identification system established in § 41-2411 with the juvenile’s fingerprints, personal identification data and other pertinent information.1
The juvenile argues that the clear language of the statute limits the use of AFIS for juveniles to those who are felony-level offenders. Because he committed only misdemeanor offenses, he asserts, the juvenile court committed an error of law and abused its discretion in ordering that his fingerprints be provided to AFIS.
The state responds that “the statute only requires the juvenile court to order AFIS fingerprinting for felony-level juvenile offenders” but that nothing in its language prohibits the court from requiring that AFIS accept and retain fingerprint records of juvenile misdemeanor-level offenders. The state contends that the juvenile court thus had discretion to order fingerprinting to “aid in the juvenile’s rehabilitation.”
We agree with the state that a court can order fingerprinting as a condition of a juvenile’s probation. However, we agree with the juvenile that the statute permits submitting juvenile fingerprint records to AFIS only for felony-level juvenile offenders.
In interpreting a statute, we look first to the language of the statute. Matter of Maricopa County Juvenile Action No. JA 3379b, 171 Ariz. 90, 93, 828 P.2d 1231, 1234 (App.1991). In enacting section 8-241.0, the legislature specifically limited the class of juvenile offenders whose, fingerprint records are to be maintained by AFIS to those juveniles who have been “adjudicated delinquent for an offense that if committed by an adult would be a felony____” . See A.R.S. § 8-241.0. When a statute enumerates the subjects upon which it is to operate, we will construe it as excluding from its effect all subjects not specifically mentioned. Inspirar *361tion Cons. Copper v. Industrial Comm’n, 118 Ariz. 10, 12, 574 P.2d 478, 480 (App.1977). In this instance, the legislature included one specifically-defined class of juvenile offenders; the language of the statute gives no indication that this court should expand the classification to include other juvenile offenders.
The legislative history of the statute confirms that the legislature intended to limit the statute’s scope. Dupnik v. MacDougall, 136 Ariz. 39, 42, 664 P.2d 189, 192 (1983). The first version of this amendment, as introduced in the Arizona House of Representatives, provided that misdemeanor-level juvenile offenders also would be fingerprinted for inclusion in the AFIS system. The proposed amendment read in part: “If a juvenile has been adjudicated responsible for a felony or a class 1 misdemeanor the court shall provide the department of public safety ... with the juvenile’s fingerprints, personal identification data and other pertinent information.” H.R. 2399, 42d Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. (Ariz. 1996) (emphasis added). However, the legislature omitted the misdemeanor classification from the final version of the bill. The statute’s history thus confirms that the legislature intended to limit the statute’s application to the defined class of juvenile offenders.
Because A.R.S. section 8-241.0 does not authorize the court to submit to AFIS fingerprint records of misdemeanor-level juvenile offenders, the juvenile court acted without authority in ordering that the juvenile be fingerprinted for entry into AFIS.
III.
We vacate that portion of the juvenile court’s order that requires the juvenile’s fingerprints be submitted to AFIS. We affirm those portions of the juvenile court’s order adjudicating the juvenile delinquent and imposing all other terms and conditions of probation.
PATTERSON, J., concurs.

. The statute limits access to and dissemination of records submitted pursuant to subsection 0:
Access to fingerprint records submitted to the department of public safety Arizona automated fingerprint identification system pursuant to subsection O of this section shall be limited to the administration of criminal justice as defined in § 41-1750. Dissemination of information from the Arizona automated fingerprint identification system shall be limited to the name of the juvenile, juvenile case number, date of adjudication and court of adjudication.
A.R.S. § 8-241.P (Supp.1996).