§571-84.6 Minor law violators; proceedings and records not confidential. (a) As used in this section:

"Legal record" means petitions, complaints, motions, and other papers filed in any case; transcripts of testimony taken by the court; and findings, judgments, orders, decrees, and other papers and adjudication data, other than social records, filed in proceedings before the court.

"Social record" means those social and clinical studies, reports, or examinations prepared in any case pursuant to this chapter.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, in any proceeding in which a minor age fourteen years of age or older has been adjudicated by the court under section 571-11(1) for an act that if committed by an adult would:

(1) Be murder in the first degree or second degree or attempted murder in the first degree;

(2) Result in serious bodily injury to or death of a victim;

(3) Be a class A felony; or

(4) Be a felony and the minor has more than one prior adjudication for acts that would constitute felonies if committed by an adult,

all legal records related to the above stated proceeding shall be open for public inspection, unless the administrative judge of the family court or the judge's designee finds in writing that there are significant and compelling circumstances peculiar to the case of such a nature that public inspection would be inconsistent with or defeat the express purpose of this section. All social records shall be kept confidential except as provided in section 571-84.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, in any case in which a minor age sixteen years of age or older comes within section 571-11(1) is taken into custody for an act that if committed by an adult would:

(1) Be murder in the first degree or second degree or attempted murder in the first degree;

(2) Result in serious bodily injury to or death of a victim;

(3) Be a class A felony and the minor has one or more prior adjudications for an act that would constitute a felony if committed by an adult; or

(4) Be a class B or C felony and the minor has more than one prior adjudication for acts that would constitute felonies if committed by an adult,

all legal proceedings related to the above stated case shall be open to the public unless the administrative judge of the family court or the judge's designee finds in writing that there are significant and compelling circumstances peculiar to the case of such a nature that an open proceeding would be inconsistent with or defeat the express purpose of this section. [L 1997, c 317, §2; am L 1999, c 139, §3]