Circuit Judge David Tapp
Commonwealth Journal
December 03, 2007 10:03 am
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A Louisiana judge’s decision to open to the public the upcoming re-trial of one of the juvenile Jena 6 defendants has prompted renewed interest in the transparency of juvenile court proceedings.
Mychal Bell, age 17, faces a second trial for his participation in the alleged assault of a white high school student last December by six black teen-agers.
The charges and Bell’s conviction prompted civil unrest and months of acrimonious, and sometimes violent, racial tension.
Bell, first tried and convicted as an adult, obtained a new trial after an appellate court ruled that Bell should have been tried as a juvenile.
In the latest twist, the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, CNN and other major media outlets filed suit seeking to open the juvenile proceedings against Bell to the public. The trial judge has now agreed to do so, based in part on a recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision and changes in the law by the Louisiana legislature. These changes require that certain juvenile proceedings involving serious offenses are to be publicly conducted.
Traditionally, most court proceedings involving juveniles have been conducted in private. Kentucky law provides that “the general public shall be excluded” from those cases involving children that are brought under the Unified Juvenile Code. Thus, in those instances where a child has been abused, neglected, or is dependent, the public has always been excluded. This just makes good sense. Children involved in these proceedings are especially vulnerable and are usually only involved in court proceedings because of some failure or fault of their caretaker.
Traditionally, proceedings involving children charged with crimes have also been closed to the public. In many instances, this too reflects sound public policy. After all, the vast majority of crimes committed by children are very minor offenses and it makes little sense to expose a young child to the public humiliation and stigma of open court for shoplifting candy or a compact disc. In reality, for most children, their first offense is usually their last.
The issue of transparency in juvenile proceedings is far more complex when the case involves allegations of serious criminal conduct like that alleged in the Jena 6 trial. Many advocate that the media and public should be permitted to observe in these cases.
In a well-written 2005 editorial in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Jefferson County Attorney Irv Maze noted that many juveniles are “repeat or multiple offenders, with lengthy juvenile histories at 14 or 15 years of age” and that they have proven themselves as a threat to the community. Allowing open access in these cases, wrote Maze, ensures the accountability of courts, police and prosecutors while also alerting the community to potentially dangerous youthful offenders.
Acting on similar concerns voiced by advocacy groups throughout the U.S., state legislatures and courts are easing restrictions on public access in the most serious juvenile cases. Recently enacted legislation in Kentucky now permits limited public access to some court records involving juveniles aged 14 or over who are adjudicated as delinquent for offenses which would be a capital offense or a class A, B or C felony if the offense had been committed by an adult.
The National Counsel of Juvenile and Family Court judges advocate even greater changes, even in less serious cases: “The public has a right to know how courts deal with children and families ... [and] ... should be open to the media, interested professionals and students, and when appropriate, the public, in order to hold itself accountable, educate others, and encourage greater community participation.”
The rub lies, of course, with determining when a particular case involving a given child is “appropriate” for public scrutiny.
Kentucky officials – like those in most other states – continue to struggle to balance the privacy interests of children with the legitimate interest of the public in an open, honest and accountable court system.
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