Privacy Protections Criminal Justice Records

Subject to limited exceptions, current law requires that a victim's name and identifying information be deleted from criminal justice records released to the public if the person was a victim of certain sexual offenses. The bill permits the release of unredacted records to the named victim, or victim's designee , or victim's lawful representative .

Subject to limited exceptions, current law requires that a child's name and identifying information be deleted from criminal justice records released to the public if the child was a victim of or witness to a criminal offense. The bill permits the release of unredacted records to the office of the state public defender, and the office of the alternate defense counsel , the office of respondent parents' counsel, the office of the child's representative, municipal attorneys, county attorneys, and a named child victim's lawful representative. The bill sets a deadline of July 1, 2024, for the implementation of the revised records access measures.

The bill clarifies that changes in 2023 to the law related to records of child victims and child witnesses apply to records pertaining to offenses committed on or after January 1, 2024. For records pertaining to earlier offenses, the records release provisions that predate the 2023 law changes apply.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)