The Indiana Publisher

Page 2 December 2021 HSPA Board of Directors HSPA Foundation Board Members Alan Achkar, South Bend Tribune Bill Hackney, e La Porte County Herald-Dispatch (Michigan City) and e Rochester Sentinel Don Hurd, Hoosier Media Group Gillian Kelk, Sullivan Daily Times Brenda McLane, Hometown Media Group Mark Miller, e News-Banner (Bluon) Kathy Tretter, Ferdinand News and Spencer County Leader (Rockport) HSPA Board Members Nathan Feltman, Indianapolis Business Journal Bud Hunt, AIM Media Indiana Curt Kovener, e Crothersville Times Robert Shegog, Indianapolis Recorder Scott Stanford, Fort Wayne Newspapers Chris White, e Times Media Co. HSPA Board of Directors HSPA Officers President: Larry Hensley, e Hoosier Times HSPA Foundation Board of Directors HSPA Foundation Officers President: Robyn McCloskey, CNHI HSPA Staff Steve Key, executive director, general counsel skey@hspa.com (317) 803-4772 Amelia McClure, government relations counsel admcclure@hspa.com (317) 803-4772 Pamela Lego, director of operations plego@hspa.com (812) 350-7711 Shawn Goldsby, business manager sgoldsby@hspa.com (317) 803-4772 Ruth Witmer, communications specialist news@hspa.com (812) 855-5898 The recommendations presented as legislation to the Indiana General Assembly in 1994 was approved by the Commission on a 13-1 vote. Jon DeGuillo, Lake County Prosecutor chaired the Commission. Old law gave juvenile court judges the discretion to close proceedings and thus the records. Modisett said 99 percent of juvenile delinquen- cy cases in Marion County were closed to the public under that system. With a closed system, a community didn't have the opportunity to better under- stand the juvenile justice system and impact of juve- nile crime. HSPA executive director and general counsel Steve Key recalls there was a general concern that juvenile crime had grown more violent and there were questions as to whether the system was ade- quately addressing the more violent juvenile offenders. The changes did take into account the privacy and pro- tection of child witnesses/ victims if the juvenile delin- quency charge concerned: 1. Matters of a sexual nature; and 2. When necessary to pro- tect the welfare of the child witness or victim – taking into account the nature of the charge or defense, age of the witness, psychological matu- rity of the witness, and desire of the witness to have the pro- ceeding closed to the public. Otherwise, there was no consideration to make blan- ket restrictions on informa- tion provided by the police or courts concerning crime victims, whether adult or children. Part of that reasoning goes to the Constitution's 6th amendment right for the accused to be informed of the nature and cause of the accu- sation and to be confronted with the witnesses against him/her. While discovery does bring that information before the accused when the case moves forward, making information public about the victim to the public serves several purposes: 1. By identifying the vic- tim and accused, it alerts the public to the event in question and can bring forward other witnesses who may bolster the case for the accused as well as the prosecution. 2. It allows the community to offer support to the vic- tim's family as friends, fellow employees, members of the same congregation or neigh- bors who may not even have known the victim or family. We've all seen donation jars in businesses to help a family with medical bills or burial costs. 3. Putting a name to the victim helps a community humanize the crime by mak- ing that victim a person, not a generic 14-year-old girl. Desensitizing violent crimes doesn't serve to galvanize a community to demand its government to take action to prevent repeat incidents. There are multiple examples of legislation that bears the name of a child whose victim- ization stirred legislators to change or create law. 4. From a practical stand- point, making a change to redact the names of under- age crime victims will add a burden to law enforcement and the courts. For example, accident reports are public records required to be made available to the public. With this proposed change, police officers would have to create one version of the report for the Indiana State Police and a second redacted version for the public if the driver of the vehicle faced any criminal/ juvenile delinquency charges if there were underage pas- sengers in the vehicle. Additionally, it is worth noting that when HSPA asked what prompted AIM to propose this legislation, it pointed to one example – the release of the name of a murdered child in South Bend. HSPA would argue that a community should know when a child has been murdered. If this is the only instance of a problem, we would argue that it shouldn't prompt action without proper examination. If the legislature believes current law on the transpar- ency of criminal and juvenile delinquency hearings needs to be changed, and it may after nearly three decades, HSPA would suggest the same thoughtful effort by given by the various stakeholders in the process as occurred in 1992 through 1993. If circumstances have changed since the law was changed on the recommenda- tion by the Juvenile Code and Gang Study Commission, it would be perfectly appropri- ate for a new commission to be appointed to examine the process including what level of transparency the legislature would want to apply to the criminal and juvenile delin- quency process. Old law gave juvenile court judges the discretion to close proceedings and thus the records ... 99 percent of juvenile delin- quency cases in Marion County were closed to the public under that system. Juvenile Continued from Page 1 e Indiana Publisher is published monthly by the Hoosier State Press Association, 429 E. Vermont St. #206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46202

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