Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1975 )

February 17. 1975
The Honorable Wilson E. Speir Opinion No. H- 529
Director
Texas Department of Public Safety Re: Whether, under the Family
P. 0. Box 4087 Code, local officials may
Austin, Texas 78773 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~ndnaturg~ 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 proceed-
ing 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