Victims of Crime Compensation Board (e.g., payments
owed on assessments and restitution). N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-
60a. Other interested persons or agencies may obtain
these records only by court order for good cause shown.
N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-60a(6). Records of law enforcement
agencies may be disclosed for law enforcement purposes
to any other law enforcement agency in this country, and
public disclosure of a juvenile’s identity is allowed when
necessary to execute a warrant for his arrest. N.J.S.A.
2A:4A-60b.
State v. Allen, 70 N.J. 474 (1976). The intent and
tenor of the juvenile disclosure statute when read as a
whole are to make the juvenile’s records available to the
designated persons without court order for use in
conjunction with the treatment, care or other matter
concerning the juvenile’s welfare. However, the statutes
and rules have always recognized that the juvenile’s
records should be available to third persons with a
sufficient legitimate interest or whenever proper
administration or justice so required. These competing
policies must be weighed in the light of all the pertinent
circumstances and, if possible, balanced to safeguard the
purposes of both.
State in the Interest of D.G., 174 N.J. Super. 243 (App.
Div. 1980). The statute is concerned exclusively with
disclosure of court records, records of probation
departments and law enforcement agencies. Thus,
parents of a juvenile who was adjudged a juvenile in need
of supervision and placed in a foster home were not
allowed access to records developed by the Division of
Youth and Family Services, because those records were
neither court records, probation records nor law
enforcement agency records. Although apparently
conferring an absolute right to juvenile records to
specified classes of persons, the statute, nevertheless,
invests the court with residual discretionary control over
the disclosure of such records even to those favored
classes. Even when the statute allows disclosure of
juvenile records, courts have the discretion to preclude
disclosure in appropriate circumstances.
N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-60 also governs the release of
information as to the identity of a juvenile charged with
an offense, the offense charged, the adjudication and the
disposition. This information may be disclosed, upon
request, at the time of charge, adjudication or disposition
to the victim or victim’s immediate family, the
investigating law enforcement agency, the complainant,
any law enforcement agency in the municipality where
the juvenile resides, a party in a subsequent legal
proceeding involving the juvenile (upon court approval),
and, on a confidential basis to the school principal where
the juvenile is enrolled for relevant purposes. N.J.S.A.
2A:4A-60c.In Re: Release of Juveniles’ Identities to Albert Wise,
Applicant, 204 N.J. Super. 71 (Ch. Div. 1985), held that
the disclosing of juvenile’s identity to victim permitted
by N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-60 applies only to juveniles charged
with an offense. It is a means to discover the identities of
juveniles who have acted in such a way as to merit
disclosure. Here, the application for the juveniles’ names
and addresses and police and court records was denied, as
the juveniles were never charged with any offense arising
out of the incident.The school principal must be advised by the law
enforcement or prosecuting agency of the identity of the
charged juvenile, the offense, the adjudication and the
disposition in certain enumerated circumstances (e.g.,
the offense occurred on school property, the crime
involved a firearm or other weapon, there was a purpose
to intimidate because of race, color, religion, sexual
orientation or ethnicity, among other specified
circumstances). N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-60d.A law enforcement or prosecuting agency may also
provide a school principal with information identifying
juveniles who are under investigation or have been taken
into custody if useful to the principal in maintaining
order, safety or school discipline, or in planning relevant
programs for the juvenile. N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-60e.- “Good Cause Shown” for Disclosure
The constitutional right of confrontation may
supercede the policy of confidentiality of juvenile
records. “The State’s policy interest in protecting the
confidentiality of a juvenile offender’s record cannot
require yielding of so vital a constitutional right as the
effective cross-examination for bias of an adverse witness.”
Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 320 (1974). Thus, a
juvenile witness in a criminal trial may be cross-examined
regarding his current juvenile probationary status or
prior inconsistent juvenile court testimony. See also State
v. Hare, 139 N.J. Super. 150 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 70
N.J. 525 (1976); State v. Parnes, 134 N.J. Super. 61 (App.
Div. 1975); State in the Interest of A.S., 130 N.J. Super.
388 (J. & D.R. Ct. 1974). Note, however, that the right
to cross-examination does not necessarily extend beyond
a disclosure of a juvenile’s current status to his overall
juvenile record: “...the Court neither holds nor suggests
that the Constitution confers a right in every case to
impeach the general credibility of a witness through