                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CONFIDENTIALITY OF JUVENILE LAW-ENFORCEMENT RECORDS; DISCLOSURES TO SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL AND OTHERS (§ 16.1-301)

A. The court shall require all law-enforcement agencies to take special
precautions to ensure that law-enforcement records concerning a juvenile are
protected against disclosure to any unauthorized person. The police departments
of the cities of the Commonwealth, and the police departments or sheriffs of the
counties of the Commonwealth, as the case may be, shall keep separate records as
to violations of law committed by juveniles other than violations of motor
vehicle laws. Such records with respect to such juvenile shall not be open to
public inspection nor their contents disclosed to the public unless a juvenile
14 years of age or older is charged with a violent juvenile felony as specified
in subsections B and C of &#xA7; 16.1-269.1.

B. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the chief of police or sheriff of
a jurisdiction or his designee shall disclose, for the protection of the
juvenile, his fellow students and school personnel, to the school principal that
a juvenile has been charged with or may disclose when a juvenile is a suspect in
(i) a violent juvenile felony, as specified in subsections B and C of &#xA7;
16.1-269.1; (ii) a violation of any of the provisions of Article 1 (&#xA7;
18.2-77 et seq.) of Chapter 5 of Title 18.2; (iii) a violation of law involving
any weapon as described in subsection A of &#xA7; 18.2-308; or (iv) a violation
of law as described in subsection G of &#xA7; 16.1-260. If a chief of police or
sheriff or a designee has disclosed to a school principal pursuant to this
section that a juvenile is a suspect in or has been charged with a crime as
specified in clauses (i) through (iv), upon a court disposition of a proceeding
regarding such crime in which a juvenile is adjudicated delinquent, convicted,
found not guilty or the charges are reduced, the chief of police or sheriff or a
designee shall, within 15 days of the expiration of the appeal period, if there
is no notice of appeal, provide notice of the disposition ordered by the court
to the school principal to whom disclosure was made. If the court defers
disposition or if charges are withdrawn, dismissed or nolle prosequi, the chief
of police or sheriff or a designee shall, within 15 days of such action provide
notice of such action to the school principal to whom disclosure was made. If
charges are withdrawn in intake or handled informally without a court
disposition or if charges are not filed within 90 days of the initial
disclosure, the chief of police or sheriff or a designee shall so notify the
school principal to whom disclosure was made. In addition to any other
disclosure that is permitted by this subsection, the principal in his discretion
may provide such information to a threat assessment team established by the
local school division. No member of a threat assessment team shall (a) disclose
any juvenile record information obtained pursuant to this section or (b) use
such information for any purpose other than evaluating threats to students and
school personnel. For the purposes of this subsection, &#8220;principal&#8221;
also refers to the chief administrator of any private primary or secondary
school.

C. Inspection of law-enforcement records concerning juveniles shall be permitted
only by the following:

   1. A court having the juvenile currently before it in any proceeding;

   2. The officers of public and nongovernmental institutions or agencies to
   which the juvenile is currently committed, and those responsible for his
   supervision after release;

   3. Any other person, agency, or institution, by order of the court, having a
   legitimate interest in the case or in the work of the law-enforcement agency;

   4. Law-enforcement officers of other jurisdictions, by order of the court,
   when necessary for the discharge of their current official duties;

   5. The probation and other professional staff of a court in which the juvenile
   is subsequently convicted of a criminal offense for the purpose of a
   presentence report or other dispositional proceedings, or by officials of
   penal institutions and other penal facilities to which he is committed, or by
   a parole board in considering his parole or discharge or in exercising
   supervision over him;

   6. The juvenile, the parent, guardian, or other custodian of the juvenile, and
   counsel for the juvenile only if (i) no other law or rule of the Supreme Court
   of Virginia requires or allows withholding of the record; (ii) the parent,
   guardian, or other custodian requesting the record is not a suspect, offender,
   or person of interest in the record; and (iii) any identifying information of
   any other involved juveniles is redacted; and

   7. As provided in &#xA7;&#xA7; 19.2-389.1 and 19.2-390.

D. The police departments of the cities and towns and the police departments or
sheriffs of the counties may release, upon request to one another and to state
and federal law-enforcement agencies, and to law-enforcement agencies in other
states, current information on juvenile arrests. The information exchanged shall
be used by the receiving agency for current investigation purposes only and
shall not result in the creation of new files or records on individual juveniles
on the part of the receiving agency.

E. Upon request, the police departments of the cities and towns and the police
departments or sheriffs of the counties may release current information on
juvenile arrests or juvenile victims to the Virginia Workers&#8217; Compensation
Commission solely for purposes of determining whether to make an award to the
victim of a crime, and such information shall not be disseminated or used by the
Commission for any other purpose than provided in &#xA7; 19.2-368.3.

F. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the exchange of other criminal
investigative or intelligence information among law-enforcement agencies.

G. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the disclosure of law-enforcement
records concerning a juvenile to a court services unit-authorized diversion
program in accordance with this chapter, which includes programs authorized by
subdivision 1 of &#xA7; 16.1-227 and &#xA7; 16.1-260. Such records shall not be
further disclosed by the authorized diversion program or any participants
therein. Law-enforcement officers may prohibit a disclosure to such a program to
protect a criminal investigation or intelligence information.

H. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the disclosure of accident reports and
other reports required to be made to the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant
to &#xA7; 46.2-374 involving a juvenile even if such reports are in the custody
of a law-enforcement agency or were created by a law-enforcement officer.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 16.1-163; 1956, c. 555; 1977, cc. 559, 618; 1978, c. 740;
1981, c. 175; 1993, cc. 468, 926; 1994, cc. 859, 949; 1995, c. 752; 1996, cc.
755, 914; 1997, c. 430; 2000, c. 211; 2001, c. 770; 2003, c. 119; 2005, c. 683;
2009, c. 286; 2013, c. 769; 2016, c. 234; 2022, cc. 455, 456, 542.