Court Opinion

ID: 9776134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:19:27.386983+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:03:52.940206
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Retinquist,
concurring in the judgment.
Historically, we have viewed freedom of speech and of the press as indispensable to a free society and its government. But recognition of this proposition has not meant that the public interest in free speech and press always has prevailed over competing interests of the public. “Freedom of speech thus does not comprehend the right to speak on any subject at any time,” American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U. S. 382, 394 (1950), and “the press is not free to publish with impunity everything and anything it desires to publish.” Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U. S. 665, 683 (1972); see Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson, 283 U. S. 697, 708, 716 (1931). While we have shown a special solicitude for freedom of speech and of the press, we have eschewed absolutes in favor of a more delicate calculus that carefully weighs the conflicting interests to determine which demands the greater protection under the particular circumstances presented. E. g., Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia, 435 U. S. 829, 838, 843 (1978); Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart, 427 U. S. 539, 562 (1976); American Communications Assn. v. Douds, supra, at 400.
*107The Court does not depart from these principles today. See ante, at 103-104. Instead, it concludes that the asserted state-interest is not sufficient to justify punishment of publication of truthful, lawfully obtained information about a matter of public significance. Ante, at 104. So valued is the liberty of speech and of the press that there is a tendency in cases such as this to -accept virtually any contention supported by -a claim of interference with speech or the press. See Jones v. Opelika, 316 U. S. 584, 595 (1942). I would resist that temptation. In my view, a State’s interest in preserving the anonymity of its juvenile offenders — an interest that I consider to be, in the words of the Court, of the “highest order” — far outweighs any minimal interference with freedom of the press that a ban on publication of the youths’ names entails.
It is a hallmark of our juvenile justice system in the United States that virtually from its inception at the end of the last century its proceedings have been conducted outside of the public’s full gaze and the youths brought before our juvenile courts have been shielded from publicity. See H. Lou, Juvenile Courts in the United States 131-133 (1927); Geis, Publicity and Juvenile Court Proceedings, 30 Rocky Mt. L. Rev. 101, 102, 116 (1958). This insistence on confidentiality is born of a tender concern for the welfare of the child, to hide his youthful errors and “ ‘bury them in the graveyard of the forgotten past.’” In re Gault, 387 U. S. 1, 24-25 (1967). The prohibition of publication of a juvenile’s name is designed to protect the young person from the stigma of his misconduct and is rooted in the principle that a court concerned with juvenile affairs serves as a rehabilitative and protective agency of the State. National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Standard 5.13, pp. 224-225 (1976); see Davis v. Alaska, 415 U. S. 308, 319 (1974); Kent v. United States, 383 U. S. 541, 554-555 (1966). Publication of the names of juvenile offenders may seriously impair the rehabilitative goals of *108the juvenile justice system and handicap the youths' prospects for adjustment in society and acceptance by the public. E. El-defonso, Law Enforcement and the Youthful Offender 166 (3d ed. 1978). This exposure brings undue embarrassment to the families of youthful offenders and may cause the juvenile to lose employment opportunities or provide the hardcore delinquent the kind of attention he seeks, thereby encouraging him to commit further antisocial acts. Davis v. Alaska, supra, at 319. Such publicity also renders nugatory States' expungement laws, for a potential employer or any other person can retrieve the information the States seek to “bury” simply by visiting the morgue of the local newspaper. The resultant widespread dissemination of a juvenile offender’s name, therefore, may defeat the beneficent and rehabilitative purposes of a State’s juvenile court system.1
By contrast, a prohibition against publication of the names of youthful offenders represents only a minimal interference with freedom of the press. West Virginia’s statute, like similar laws in other States, prohibits publication only of the name of the young person. See W. Va. Code § 49-7-3 (1976). The press is free to describe the details of the offense and inform the community of the proceedings against the juvenile. It is difficult to understand how publication of the youth’s name is in any way necessary to performance of the press’ “watch*109dog” role. In those rare instances where the press believes it is necessary to publish the juvenile’s name, the West Virginia law, like the statutes of other States, permits the juvenile court judge to allow publication. The juvenile court judge, unlike the press, is capable of determining whether publishing the name of the particular young person will have a deleterious effect on his chances for rehabilitation and adjustment to society’s norms.2
Without providing for punishment of such unauthorized publications it will be virtually impossible for a State to ensure the anonymity of its juvenile offenders. Even if the juvenile court’s proceedings and records are closed to the public, the press still will be able to obtain the child’s name in the same manner as it was acquired in this case. Ante, at 99; Tr. of Oral Arg. 34. Thus, the Court’s reference to effective alternatives for accomplishing the State’s goals is a mere chimera. The fact that other States do not punish publication of the names of juvenile offenders, while relevant, *110certainly is not determinative of the requirements of the Constitution.
Although I disagree with the Court that a state statute punishing publication of the identity of a juvenile offender can never serve an interest of the “highest order” and thus pass muster under the First Amendment, I agree with the Court, that West Virginia’s statute “does not accomplish its stated purpose.” Ante, at 105. The West Virginia statute prohibits only newspapers from printing the names of youths charged in juvenile proceedings. Electronic media and other forms of publication can announce the young person’s name with impunity. In fact, in this case three radio stations broadcast the alleged assailant’s name before it was published by the Charleston Daily Mail. Ante, at 99. This statute thus largely fails to achieve its purpose.3 It is difficult to take very seriously West Virginia’s asserted need to preserve the anonymity of its youthful offenders when it permits other, equally, if not more, effective means of mass communication to distribute this information without fear of punishment. See Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U. S., at 700; Bates v. Little Rock, 361 U. S. 516, 525 (1960). I, therefore, join in the Court’s judgment striking down the West Virginia law. But for the reasons previously stated, I think that a generally effective ban on publication that applied to all forms of mass communication, electronic and print media alike, would be constitutional.

 That publicity may have a harmful impact on the rehabilitation of a juvenile offender is not mere hypothesis. Recently, two clinical psychologists conducted an investigation into the effects of publicity on a juvenile. They concluded that publicity “placed additional stress on [the juvenile] during a difficult period of adjustment in the community, and it interfered with his adjustment at various points when he was otherwise proceeding adequately.” Howard, Grisso, & Neems, Publicity and Juvenile Court Proceedings, 11 Clearinghouse Rev. 203, 210 (1977). Publication of the youth’s name and picture also led to confrontations between the juvenile and his peers while he was in detention. Ibid. While this study obviously is not controlling, it does indicate that the concerns that prompted enactment of state laws prohibiting publication of the names of juvenile offenders are not without empirical support.

 The Court relies on Davis v. Alaska, 415 U. S. 308 (1974). Ante, at 104. But Davis, which presented a clash between the interests of the State in affording anonymity to juvenile offenders and the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right of confrontation, does not control the disposition of this case. In Davis, where the defendant’s liberty was at stake, the Court stated that “[s]erious damage to the strength of the State’s ease would have been a real possibility had petitioner been allowed to pursue this line of inquiry [related to the juvenile offender’s record].” 415 U. S., at 319. The State also could have protected the youth from exposure by not using him to make out its case. Id., at 320. By contrast, in this case the State took every step that was in its power to protect the juvenile’s name, and the minimal interference with the freedom of the press caused by the ban on publication of the youth’s name can hardly be compared with the possible deprivation of liberty involved in Davis. Because in each case we must carefully balance the interest of the State in pursuing its policy against the magnitude of the encroachment on the liberty of speech and of the press that the policy represents, it will not do simply to say, as the Court does, that the “important rights created by the First Amendment must be considered along with the rights of defendants guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.” Ante, at 104.

I believe that an obvious failure of a state statute to achieve its purpose is entitled to considerable weight in the balancing process that is employed in deciding issues arising under the First and Fourteenth Amendment protections accorded freedom of expression. But for the reasons stated in my dissent in Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U. S. 762, 777 (1977), I think a similar inquiry into whether a statute “accomplishes its purpose” is illusory when the statute is challenged on the basis of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.