Advocates for a new state law that would block online viewing of some juvenile court records on Tuesday faced a skeptical Minnesota Supreme Court, which expressed concern that it could also hide the electronic files of young violent offenders and questioned whether the Legislature overstepped its bounds in dictating what's public and private.
Prosecutors, public defenders and policymakers debated the merits of the controversial new law, dubbed the "access statute," which would allow the public to have access only to the paper records of 16- or 17-year-olds charged with a felony — the only juvenile delinquency cases currently public. However, there would be no public access to the files via MNCIS, the state's online court system.
Backers say the law, which passed with strong support during the 2013 legislative session, allows young offenders to move on with their lives without being dogged by easily searchable online records, which can hamper employment or other opportunities. It's a problem exacerbated by "data miners," who gather records en masse for sale to potential employers or other screeners.
The state's Juvenile Delinquency Rules Committee last November advised the Minnesota Supreme Court not to adopt the law, which was set to take effect last month, arguing that classifying a record as electronically private yet physically public places additional burden on a system striving to go electronic.
Both sides presented their cases Tuesday to the court, which will issue a decision later.
Judge Michelle Larkin, Chair of the Delinquency Rules Committee, said at the hearing that adopting the law is "simply not workable" for Minnesota's judicial branch.
Not only does the law flout the court's authority for dictating what records are public and private, but it creates a complicated system that would overburden clerks whose job it is to provide paper copies on demand, and would continuously reclassify cases as public or nonpublic as they move through the system, taking up time and leaving a high risk for errors.
"Basically the committee asked a simple question: How is this going to work in practice?" she asked. "It's simply not feasible. There are two classifications in the courts system, accessible and not accessible. There is no such thing as public but not accessible."