Bill 289

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               289
Ratification Number:       162
Act Number                 105
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Fingerprinting of children

(A105, R162, S289)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 20-7-780, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISIONS AND PROCEDURES INVOLVING JUVENILE RECORDS AND INFORMATION, SO AS TO REVISE THE PROHIBITION AGAINST TAKING FINGERPRINTS OF A CHILD WITHOUT AN ORDER FROM THE FAMILY COURT AND TO PROVIDE THE CONDITIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THE FINGERPRINTS OF CERTAIN CHILDREN MAY BE TAKEN AND THE PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED WHEN TAKING THESE FINGERPRINTS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Fingerprinting of children

SECTION 1. Section 20-7-780 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 20-7-780. The court shall make and keep records of all cases brought before it and shall devise and cause to be printed forms for social and legal records and other papers as may be required. The official juvenile records of the courts and the Department of Youth Services are open to inspection only by consent of the judge to persons having a legitimate interest but must always be available to the legal counsel of the juvenile. All information obtained and social records prepared in the discharge of official duty by an employee of the court or Department of Youth Services must be confidential and must not be disclosed directly or indirectly to anyone, other than the judge or others entitled under this chapter to receive this information unless otherwise ordered by the judge. However, these records must be open to inspection without the consent of the judge where the records are necessary to defend against an action initiated by a juvenile. The name, identity, or picture of any child under the jurisdiction of the court, pursuant to this chapter, must not be made public by any newspaper, radio, or television station except as authorized by order of the court. A juvenile charged with committing a violent offense as defined in Section 16-1-60, or charged with committing grand larceny of a motor vehicle, may be fingerprinted by the law enforcement agency who takes the juvenile into custody. A juvenile charged with committing a nonviolent or status offense shall not be fingerprinted by law enforcement except upon order of a family court judge. The fingerprint records of a juvenile shall be kept separate from the fingerprint records of adults. The fingerprint records of a juvenile shall not be transmitted to the files of the State Law Enforcement Division or to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or otherwise distributed or provided to any other law enforcement agency unless and until the juvenile is adjudicated delinquent for having committed a violent offense, as defined in Section 16-1-60, or for grand larceny of a motor vehicle. The fingerprint records of a juvenile who is not adjudicated delinquent for having committed a violent offense, as defined in Section 16-1-60, or for grand larceny of a motor vehicle shall, upon notification to law enforcement, be destroyed or otherwise expunged by the law enforcement agency who took the juvenile into custody. The Department of Youth Services may fingerprint and photograph a juvenile upon commitment to a juvenile correctional institution. Fingerprints and photographs taken by the Department of Youth Services shall remain confidential and shall not be transmitted to the State Law Enforcement Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or to any other agency or person, except for the purpose of aiding the department in apprehending an escapee from the Department of Youth Services or to the Missing Persons Information Center to assist in the location or identification of a missing or runaway child."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.