KRS 610.320: Juvenile record and juvenile docket -- Disclosure of information in court

and police records concerning juvenile prohibited -- Exceptions -- Use of

juvenile records in court.

(1) A special record book shall be kept by the court for all cases, to be kn own as the

"juvenile record," and the docket or calendar of such cases shall be called the

"juvenile docket."

(2) No probation officer, nor employee of a probation officer, shall, without the consent

of the District Judge sitting in juvenile session, divul ge or communicate to any

persons other than the court, law enforcement, the Department of Juvenile Justice,

an officer of the court interested in the case, a member of the advisory board of the

court, or a representative of the cabinet, any information obt ained pursuant to the

discharge of his duties, nor shall any record of the action of the probation officer be

made public except by leave of the District Judge; provided, that nothing in this

subsection shall prohibit the probation officer from divulging o r communicating

such information to the court, to his colleagues or superiors in his own department,

or to another probation officer having a direct interest in the record or social history

of the child.

(3) All law enforcement and court records regarding children who have not reached

their eighteenth birthday shall not be opened to scrutiny by the public, except that a

separate public record shall be kept by the clerk of the court which shall be

accessible to the public for court records, limited to the pe tition, order of the

adjudication, and disposition in juvenile delinquency proceedings concerning a

child who is fourteen (14) years of age or older at the time of the commission of the

offense, and who is adjudicated a juvenile delinquent for the commissi on of an

offense that would constitute a capital offense or a Class A, B, or C felony if the

juvenile were an adult, or any offense involving a deadly weapon, or an offense

wherein a deadly weapon is used or displayed.

(4) Release of the child's treatment, medical, mental, or psychological records is

prohibited unless presented as evidence in Circuit Court. Release of any records

resulting from the child's prior abuse and neglect under Title IV -E or Title IV-B of

the Federal Social Security Act is also proh ibited. Otherwise, the law enforcement

records shall be made available to the child, family, guardian, or legal representative

of the child involved. The records shall also be made available to the court,

probation officers, prosecutors, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and law

enforcement agencies or representatives of the cabinet. Records, limited to the

child's adjudication of delinquency, and disposition of a criminal activity covered by

KRS 610.345, shall also be made available to public or private elementary and

secondary school administrative, transportation, and counseling personnel, and to

any teacher to whose class the student has been assigned for instruction, subject to

the provisions of KRS 610.340 and 610.345.

(5) Subject to the Kentucky Rul es of Evidence, juvenile court records of adjudications

of guilt of a child for an offense which would be a felony if committed by an adult

shall be admissible in court at any time the child is tried as an adult, or after the

child becomes an adult, at any subsequent criminal trial relating to that same person.

Juvenile court records made available pursuant to this section may be used for

impeachment purposes during a criminal trial, and may be used during the

sentencing phase of a criminal trial. However, the fact that a juvenile has been

adjudicated delinquent of an offense which would be a felony if the child had been

an adult shall not be used in finding the child to be a persistent felony offender

based upon that adjudication.

(6) This section shall not relieve the probation officer or peace officer from divulging

such facts as a witness in a trial or hearing involving any cases falling under KRS

Chapters 600 to 645 or the production of juvenile records for use in the trial or

proceedings.

(7) This section shall not prohibit release of information regarding juvenile proceedings

in the District Court which do not reveal the identity of the child or its parents or

guardians, or which relate to the child's eligibility for services under Title IV -E or

IV-B of the Federal Social Security Act. Release of the child's treatment, medical,

mental, or psychological records is prohibited unless presented as evidence in

Circuit Court.