06 LC 36
0199
House
Bill 1482
By:
Representatives Burmeister of the
119th,
Oliver of the
83rd,
Hatfield of the
177th,
Coan of the
101st,
Benfield of the
85th,
and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 11 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to juvenile proceedings, so as to admit the general public to hearings in
juvenile court with certain exceptions; to authorize juvenile court to close a
hearing under exceptional circumstances upon its own motion or by a motion of a
party; to prohibit the media from publicizing the name, identity, or likeness of
any child involved in a juvenile court proceeding; to prohibit the inspection of
files and records by the general public of a proceeding in juvenile court
without an order of the court; to permit certain persons and the state
Department of Family and Children Services to inspect files and records without
an order of the court; to provide that certain records may be sealed; to provide
for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to
repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
11 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to juvenile
proceedings, is amended by striking Code Section 15-11-78, relating to exclusion
of the public from hearing and exceptions, and inserting in its place the
following:
"15-11-78.
(a)
Except as otherwise provided by subsection (b) of this Code section, the general
public shall be excluded from hearings involving delinquency, deprivation, or
unruliness. Only the parties, their counsel, witnesses, persons accompanying a
party for his or her assistance, and any other persons as the court finds have a
proper interest in the proceeding or in the work of the court may be admitted by
the court. The court may temporarily exclude the child from the hearing except
while allegations of his or her delinquency or unruly conduct are being
heard.
(b)
The general public shall be admitted to:
(1)
An adjudicatory hearing involving an allegation of a designated felony pursuant
to Code Section 15-11-63;
(2)
An adjudicatory hearing involving an allegation of delinquency brought in the
interest of any child who has previously been adjudicated delinquent; provided,
however, the court shall close any delinquency hearing on an allegation of
sexual assault or any delinquency hearing at which any party expects to
introduce substantial evidence related to matters of deprivation;
(3)
Any child support hearing;
(4)
Any hearing in a legitimation action filed pursuant to Code Section 19-7-22;
or
(5)
At the
court́s
discretion, any dispositional hearing involving any proceeding under this
article.
(a)
The general public shall be admitted to hearings in any proceeding in juvenile
court, except as otherwise provided in this Code section.
(b)(1)
The general public shall be excluded from hearings in proceedings
involving:
(A)
Termination of parental rights; or
(B)
Adoption proceedings pursuant to Chapter 8 of Title 19.
(2)
Only the parties, their counsel, witnesses, persons accompanying a party for his
or her assistance, and any other persons as the court finds have a proper
interest in the proceeding or in the work of the court may be admitted by the
court to hearings from which the public is excluded. The court may temporarily
exclude the child from the hearing except while allegations of his or her
delinquency or unruly conduct are being heard.
(c)(1)
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, the court shall only
close a hearing in a proceeding in exceptional circumstances and shall make a
finding on the record as to the reason or reasons for closing all or part of a
hearing in any proceeding.
(2)
The court may close the hearing in any proceeding in juvenile court upon making
a finding upon the record:
(A)
That the proceeding involves an allegation of an act which, if done by an adult,
would constitute a sexual offense under Chapter 6 of Title 16; or
(B)
That is it is in the best interest of the child. In making such a
determination, the court shall consider such factors as:
(i)
The age of the child;
(ii)
The nature of the allegations; and
(iii)
The effect of publicity, if any, on family reunification.
(d)
The court may refuse to admit a person to a hearing in any proceeding upon
making a finding upon the record that the
persońs
presence at the hearing would:
(1)
Be detrimental to the best interest of a child who is a party to the
proceeding;
(2)
Impair the fact-finding process; or
(3)
Be otherwise contrary to the interest of justice.
(e)
The court may close a hearing or exclude a person from a hearing in any
proceeding on its own motion or by motion of a party to the
proceeding.
(f)
Each juvenile court shall request the media not to release identifying
information concerning any child or family members involved in hearings open to
the public.
(g)
Any request
for installation and use of electronic recording, transmission, videotaping, or
motion picture or still photography of any judicial proceeding shall be made to
the juvenile court at least two days in advance of the hearing. The request
shall be evaluated by the court pursuant to the standards set forth in Code
Section
15-1-10.1."
SECTION 2.
Said
chapter is further amended by striking subsections (a) and (b) of Code Section
15-11-79, relating to inspection of court files and records, and inserting in
their place new subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:
"(a)
Except as provided in
subsection
subsections
(b) and
(c) of this Code section, all files and
records of the court in a proceeding under this article are open to inspection
only upon order of the court.
(b)
Subject to the requirements of subsection (a) of Code Section 15-11-56,
subsection (b) of Code Section 15-11-65, and Code Section 15-11-79.2, the
general public shall be allowed to inspect court files and records for cases
arising under Code Section 15-11-73 or any complaint, petition, or order from
any case that was open to the public pursuant to subsection (b) of Code Section
15-11-78. The general public shall be allowed to inspect court files and records
for proceedings involving a legitimation petition under the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (e) of Code
Section 15-11-28.
(b)
Files and records of a proceeding, unless sealed pursuant to Code Section
15-11-79.2, may be inspected without an order of the court by the
following;
(1)
The child who is the subject of the proceeding;
(2)
A guardian ad litem who has been appointed by the court in the
proceeding;
(3)
A person who:
(A)
Is the parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian of the child who is the
subject matter of the proceeding; and
(B)
Has not been alleged to have committed any offense pursuant to Title 16 against
the child who is the subject of the proceeding; and
(4)
The state Department of Family and Children’s
Services."
SECTION
3.
Said
chapter is further amended by striking subsection (e) of Code Section
15-11-79.2, relating to sealing of records, and inserting in its place a new
subsection (e) to read as follows:
"(e)
Except as
otherwise provided by the court, no order sealing files and records under this
Code section may be issued regarding any proceeding in which the general public
may not be excluded from the hearing under subsection (a) of Code Section
15-11-78
The court may
seal any record containing information identifying a victim of an act which, if
done by an adult, would constitute a sexual offense under Chapter 6 of Title
16."
SECTION
4.
Said
chapter is further amended by striking subsection (b) of Code Section 15-11-82,
relating to inspection of court files and records, and inserting in its place a
new subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b)
Unless a charge of delinquency is transferred for criminal prosecution under
Code Section
15-11-30.2,
or the interest of national security requires,
or the case
is one in which the general public may not be excluded from the hearings under
subsection (a) or (b) of Code Section 15-11-78 or the court otherwise orders in
the interest of the child, the records and
files shall not be open to public inspection nor shall their contents be
disclosed to the
public, except
as provided in Code Section
15-11-79."
SECTION
5.
This
Act shall become effective July 1, 2006, and shall not apply to any juvenile
court proceeding filed before that date. Any such proceeding filed before July
1, 2006, shall be governed by the statute in effect at the time the juvenile
court proceeding was filed.
SECTION
6.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.