Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
On the hotline I have received several inquiries connected to reporting on juvenile court proceedings. I wanted to put my responses in one place so that you might have it handy if the news compels you to follow a juvenile case.
Juvenile Court operates by its own set of rules, which can make it harder to cover than normal court proceedings. In Kansas City, lawyers are randomly appointed to represent juveniles – and each time it happened to me, a crash course on how things work in Juvenile Court would ensue. I cannot say that the law is easy in this area. That’s why I tapped Darren Korte, the Pro Bono Juvenile Attorney at Husch Blackwell, who formerly worked in the Jackson County Juvenile Office for 16 years, for some extra insights.
Juvenile records and proceedings in Missouri are governed by a mix of statutes (211.171, 211.319 and 211.321 for example) and court rules (SC. 122, mainly). The Sunshine Law does not really come into play here to the extent we are dealing with court records.
Normally, the courtroom in juvenile cases is not open and the general public is excluded (211.171.7.) You would not be able to attend court hearings on adoptions, delinquency matters involving misdemeanors, or status offenses (i.e. truancy, runaway child). You also could not see these records.
There are two pertinent exceptions to the closed proceedings rule – delinquency cases involving felonies, and Abuse & Neglect (A&N) cases. These types of cases are more likely where newsworthy events may occur
The first exception is where a child is accused of conduct that, if committed by an adult, would be considered a class A or class B felony, or in some cases, a class C felony. 211.171.7. In State ex rel St. Louis Post Dispatch v. Garvey, 179 S.W.3d 899 (Mo.banc 2005), the Missouri Supreme Court (MSC) ruled that a judge could not close a hearing on whether a child accused of conduct that would be a Class A or B felony should be tried as an adult.
Korte tells me that while the public could attend such hearings, it would be difficult to know who the juvenile is or when the hearings are scheduled unless the Juvenile Office decides to make a charge public. He suggests, on a high-profile case, to contact the Juvenile Office to learn when hearings are scheduled.
A court media coordinator might be able to assist. At a detention hearing, a reporter would likely learn when the next hearing might be.
If the juvenile is certified to be prosecuted as an adult, then the case would be transferred out of Juvenile Court and into regular Circuit Court. Reporters should then have normal access to records and proceedings.
In A&N cases, proceedings and records can be accessed. These Juvenile Court cases proceed under 211.031.1(1). For these cases, as well as termination of parental rights proceedings, 211.319.1 requires court proceedings to be open to the public. The general public may be excluded for good cause and is automatically excluded when a child or a victim testifies.
MSC Rule 122 prohibits the public from photographing or making audio or video recordings of any hearing. The same rule purports to prevent people involved in the proceedings to permit audio or video recordings of the juvenile, or even to submit to audio or video recordings regarding a juvenile.
The text of the rule does not restrict a reporter from taking notes or interviewing a witness, so long as no recording is made.
With respect to obtaining records in Abuse & Neglect cases, Section 211.319.3 makes the pleadings and orders of the juvenile court open, though with redactions for child names and information that might identify an abuse reporter. But most of the case file would not be accessible and contained in the child’s “confidential file,” which by statute could contain “all other records and reports considered closed or confidential by law, including but not limited to medical reports, psychological or psychiatric evaluations, investigation reports of the children’s division, social histories, home studies, and police reports and law enforcement records.”
In delinquency cases, where an A-level felony or murder charges were sustained, a reporter should be able to obtain pleadings and orders from the case file under 211.321.2. Such records would likely not be available until after a trial, and the court file would not contain any police reports.
It is theoretically possible to obtain access to records prior to the case’s disposition. A reporter would need an order from the court permitting access, and that would depend on the reporter convincing the court of a “legitimate interest” in the records (211.321.1.)
On the one hand, Missouri case law gives the juvenile court judge discretion to determine who has a “legitimate interest” from case to case; In Interest of ACG, 499 S.W.3d 340, 345 (Mo.App.W.D. 2016). On the other hand, the courts also hold that the “general policy of the juvenile code is to hold the records of juvenile proceedings inviolate.” MSC Rule 122.02(d) indicates the court must consider “the nature of the proceedings, the welfare and safety of the public, and the interest of the juvenile and any other juvenile identified in the file or records.” There was no reported case I could find where a court granted an order to permit a reporter early access to a juvenile file. Perhaps, though, on the right case, there could be an argument.
A final note, and this applies to covering courts of any kind: Find a way to get to know your judges. Judges have great discretion on how their courtrooms are run. Having relationships with the court will help you know what you can expect in your jurisdiction. If your court does not have a media coordinator, you might consider volunteering for that role.
