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April 1, 1998; Stearns County
4/1/1998 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of PIPA and, with the exception of any data classified as not public, are available for public access. On February 9, 1998, PIPA received a letter from Roger S. Van Heel, Stearns County Attorney. In his letter, Mr. Van Heel requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding access to certain data maintained by the County. A summary of the detailed facts of this matter follows. According to Mr. Van Heel, as County Attorney, he handles various juvenile matters in juvenile court, such as delinquency and petty offense matters. He receives requests from law enforcement agencies, whose officers signed the delinquency petitions or issued the tickets, for information about the juvenile court's disposition of the matter. Issue:In his request for an opinion, Mr. Van Heel asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Minnesota Statutes Section 260.161 classifies and regulates data about juveniles held by the court system. Pursuant to Section 260.161, subdivision 2, none of the records of the juvenile court shall be open to public inspection or their contents disclosed except under certain circumstances. Pursuant to Section 13.05, subdivisions 4 and 9, government entities subject to Chapter 13 regulation, including county attorneys, may disseminate not public data if they have specific statutory authority to do so, or a data subject gives consent. There does not appear to be any authority in Section 260.161, subdivision 2, for a county attorney to disseminate the kind of juvenile court system data described by Mr. Van Heel to a law enforcement agency. Accordingly, a county attorney may not disseminate data obtained in juvenile court proceedings to the law enforcement agency whose officer initiated the matter. NOTE: Realizing the potential impact this result may have on the criminal justice community, representatives of the Commissioner sought, in the 1998 Minnesota legislative session, to add language to appropriate legislation that, if enacted, would allow the dissemination of information contemplated by Mr. Van Heel. (See Senate File 2758, Section 2.) Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Van Heel is as follows:
Signed:
Elaine S. Hansen
Dated: April 1, 1998 |
Law enforcement data
Court records (See also: Judicial branch)
Juveniles (260.161 / 260B.171)
