Ark. Code Ann. » Title 9 Chapter 27
Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (2026)

Confidentiality of records — Definition

✓ current as of May 2026
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  1. All records may be closed and confidential within the discretion of the circuit court, except:
    1. Adoption records, including any part of a dependency-neglect record that includes adoption records, shall be closed and confidential as provided in the Revised Uniform Adoption Act, § 9-9-201 et seq.;
    2. Records of delinquency adjudications for which a juvenile could have been tried as an adult shall be made available to prosecuting attorneys for use at sentencing if the juvenile is subsequently tried as an adult or to determine if the juvenile should be tried as an adult; and
    3. The Administrative Office of the Courts shall provide the Arkansas Crime Information Center with records of delinquency adjudications for a juvenile adjudicated delinquent for an offense for which juvenile fingerprints shall be taken under § 9-27-320.
      1. Records of delinquency adjudications for which a juvenile could have been tried as an adult shall be kept for ten (10) years after the last adjudication of delinquency or the date of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or a finding of guilt as an adult.
      2. Thereafter they may be expunged.
    2. The court may expunge other juvenile records at any time and shall expunge all the records of a juvenile upon his or her twenty-first birthday, in other types of delinquency, dependency-neglect, or families in need of services cases.
    3. For purposes of this section, “expunge” means to destroy.
  3. Records of juveniles who are designated as extended juvenile jurisdiction offenders shall be kept for ten (10) years after the last adjudication of delinquency, date of plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or finding of guilt as an adult or until the juvenile's twenty-first birthday, whichever is longer.
    1. If an adult criminal sentence is imposed on an extended juvenile jurisdiction offender, the record of that case shall be considered an adult criminal record.
      1. The court shall enter an order transferring the juvenile record to the clerk who is the custodian of adult criminal records.
      2. The clerk shall assign a criminal docket number and shall maintain the file as if the case had originated as a criminal case.
  5. This section does not apply to nor restrict the use or publication of statistics, data, or other materials that summarize or refer to any records, reports, statements, notes, or other information in the aggregate and that do not refer to or disclose the identity of any juvenile defendant in any proceeding when used only for the purpose of research and study.
  6. This subchapter does not preclude prosecuting attorneys or the court from providing information, upon written request, concerning the disposition of a juvenile who has been adjudicated delinquent to:
    1. The victim or his or her next of kin; or
    2. The school superintendent of the school district or the designee of the school superintendent of the school district to which the juvenile transfers, in which the juvenile is enrolled, or from which the juvenile receives services.
  7. The prosecuting attorney shall notify the school superintendent or the designee of the school superintendent of the school district to which the juvenile transfers, in which the juvenile is enrolled, or from which the juvenile receives services if the juvenile is adjudicated delinquent for:
    1. An offense for which the juvenile could have been charged as an adult;
    2. An offense involving a deadly weapon under § 5-1-102;
    3. Kidnapping under § 5-11-102;
    4. Battery in the first degree under § 5-13-201;
    5. Sexual indecency with a child under § 5-14-110;
    6. First, second, third, or fourth degree sexual assault under §§ 5-14-124 — 5-14-127; or
    7. The unlawful possession of a handgun under § 5-73-119.
  8. Information provided pursuant to subsections (f) and (g) of this section shall not be released in violation of any state or federal law protecting the privacy of the juvenile.
    1. If a juvenile is arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm under § 5-73-119, an offense involving a deadly weapon under § 5-1-102, or battery in the first degree under § 5-13-201, the arresting agency shall orally notify the superintendent or the designee of the superintendent of the school district to which the juvenile transfers, in which the juvenile is enrolled, or from which the juvenile receives services of the offense for which the juvenile was arrested or detained within twenty-four (24) hours of the arrest or detention or before the next school day, whichever is earlier.
      1. The superintendent of the school district to which the juvenile transfers, in which the juvenile is enrolled, or from which the juvenile receives services shall then immediately notify:
        1. The principal of the school;
        2. The resource officer of the school; and
        3. Any other school official with a legitimate educational interest in the juvenile.
      2. The arrest information shall:
        1. Be treated as confidential information; and
        2. Not be disclosed by the superintendent or the designee of the superintendent to any person other than a person listed in subdivision (i)(2)(A) of this section.
      3. A person listed in subdivision (i)(2)(A) of this section who is notified of the arrest or detention of a juvenile by the superintendent or the designee of the superintendent shall maintain the confidentiality of the information he or she receives.
    3. The arrest information shall be used by the school only for the limited purpose of obtaining services for the juvenile or to ensure school safety.
  10. Records of the arrest of a juvenile, the detention of a juvenile, proceedings under this subchapter, and the records of an investigation that is conducted when the alleged offender is an adult and relates to an offense that occurred when the alleged offender was a juvenile shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of 1967, § 25-19-101 et seq., unless:
    1. Authorized by a written order of the juvenile division of circuit court;
    2. The arrest or the proceedings under this subchapter result in the juvenile's being formally charged in the criminal division of circuit court for a felony; or
    3. As allowed under this section or § 9-27-320.
  11. Information regarding the arrest or detention of a juvenile and related proceedings under this subchapter shall be confidential unless the exchange of information is:
    1. For the purpose of obtaining services for the juvenile, to ensure school safety, or to ensure public safety;
    2. Reasonably necessary to achieve one (1) or more purposes; and
    3. Under a written order by the circuit court.
    1. The information may be given only to the following persons:
      1. A school counselor;
      2. A juvenile court probation officer or caseworker;
      3. A law enforcement officer;
      4. A spiritual representative designated by the juvenile or his or her parents or legal guardian;
      5. A Department of Human Services caseworker;
      6. A community-based provider designated by the court, the school, or the parent or legal guardian of the juvenile;
      7. A Department of Health representative;
      8. The juvenile's attorney ad litem or other court-appointed special advocate; or
        1. A school superintendent or the designee of the superintendent of the school district to which the juvenile transfers, in which the juvenile is enrolled, or from which the juvenile receives services.
        2. A school superintendent or the designee of the superintendent of the school district in which the juvenile is enrolled or from which the juvenile receives services shall immediately notify the following persons of information he or she obtains under subsection (k) of this section:
          1. The principal of the school;
          2. The resource officer of the school; and
          3. Any other school official with a legitimate educational interest in the juvenile.
    2. The persons listed in subdivision (l)(1) of this section may meet to exchange information, to discuss options for assistance to the juvenile, to develop and implement a plan of action to assist the juvenile, to ensure school safety, and to ensure public safety.
    3. The juvenile and his or her parent or legal guardian shall be notified within a reasonable time before a meeting and may attend any meeting of the persons referred to in subdivision (l)(1) of this section when three (3) or more individuals meet to discuss assistance for the juvenile or protection of the public due to the juvenile's behavior.
    4. Medical records, psychiatric records, psychological records, and related information shall remain confidential unless the juvenile's parent or legal guardian waives confidentiality in writing specifically describing the records to be disclosed between the persons listed in subdivision (l)(1) of this section and the purpose for the disclosure.
    5. Persons listed in subdivision (l)(1) of this section who exchange any information referred to in this section may be held civilly liable for disclosure of the information if the person does not comply with limitations set forth in this section.
    1. When a court orders that a juvenile have a safety plan that restricts or requires supervised contact with another juvenile or juveniles as it relates to student or school safety, the court shall direct that a copy of the safety plan and a copy of the court order regarding the safety plan concerning student or school safety be provided to the school superintendent and principal of the school district to which the juvenile transfers, in which the juvenile is enrolled, or from which the juvenile receives services.
    2. When a court order amends or removes any safety plan outlined in subdivision (m)(1) of this section, the court shall direct that a copy of the safety plan and a copy of the court order regarding the safety plan, as it relates to student or school safety, be provided to the school superintendent and principal of the school district to which the juvenile transfers, in which the juvenile is enrolled, or from which the juvenile receives services.
      1. The superintendent or principal of the school district in which the juvenile is enrolled or from which the juvenile receives services shall provide verbal notification only to school officials who are necessary to implement the safety plan as ordered by the court to ensure student safety.
      2. This verbal notification may only be provided to assistant principals, counselors, resource officers, and the school employees who are primarily responsible for the supervision of the juvenile or responsible for the learning environment of the juvenile in the school district in which the juvenile is enrolled or from which the juvenile receives services, and to bus drivers, if applicable.
    4. Any school officials that receive a court order and safety plan or information concerning the court order and safety plan shall:
      1. Keep the information confidential and shall sign a statement not to disclose the information concerning the court order and safety plan that shall be kept by the superintendent or principal along with the court order and safety plan;
      2. Keep the information confidential and shall not disclose the information to any person not listed in subdivision (l)(1) of this section;
      3. Include the information in the juvenile's permanent educational records; and
        1. Treat the information and documentation contained in the court order as education records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g.
        2. A school official shall not release, disclose, or make available the information and documentation contained in the court order for inspection to any party except as permitted under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g.
        3. However, the local education agency shall not under any circumstance release, disclose, or make available for inspection to the public, any college, university, institution of higher education, vocational or trade school, or any past, present, or future employer of the student the court order or safety plan portion of a student record.
    5. When a student attains an age that he or she is no longer under the jurisdiction of the juvenile division of circuit court, the safety plan and the order regarding the safety plan shall be removed from the juvenile's permanent records at the local education agency and destroyed.

History. Acts 1989, No. 273, § 8; 1993, No. 535, § 3; 1993, No. 551, § 3; 1993, No. 758, § 4; 1994 (2nd Ex. Sess.), No. 69, § 1; 1994 (2nd Ex. Sess.), No. 70, § 1; 1999, No. 1192, § 13; 1999, No. 1451, § 1; 2001, No. 1268, § 1; 2003, No. 1166, § 6; 2009, No. 956, § 8; 2015, No. 1016, §§ 1, 2; 2017, No. 891, § 1; 2019, No. 647, §§ 2-5.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Pursuant to § 1-2-207, subsection (a) of this section is set out above as amended by Acts 1993, No. 758. Subsection (a) of this section was also amended by identical acts Nos. 535 and 551, § 3, to read as follows: “All records may be closed and confidential within the discretion of the court except records of delinquency adjudications for which a juvenile could have been tried as an adult shall be made available to prosecuting attorneys for use at sentencing if the juvenile is subsequently tried as an adult.”

Act 2015, No. 1016, § 2 has been enacted twice within Act 2015, No. 1016 concerning §§ 9-27-309(j) and § 9-27-320.

Amendments. The 2009 amendment inserted “including any part of a dependency-neglect record that includes adoption records” in (a)(1); added (j) through (m); and made related and minor stylistic changes.

The 2015 amendment rewrote (a)(3); and added (j)(3).

The 2017 amendment substituted “proceedings under this subchapter, and the records of an investigation that is conducted when the alleged offender is an adult and relates to an offense that occurred when the alleged offender was a juvenile” for “and the proceedings under this subchapter” in the introductory language of (j).

The 2019 amendment rewrote (f)(2), (g), and (i)(1) and (i)(2); inserted “to ensure school safety” in (k)(1) and (l)(2); substituted “more” for “both” in (k)(2); added (l)(1)(I); rewrote (m)(1) through (m)(3); and made stylistic changes.

Research References

U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev.

Survey of Legislation, 2001 Arkansas General Assembly, Family Law, 24 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 483.

Case Notes

Applicability.

Where the appellant was adjudicated delinquent of an offense for which he could have been charged as an adult, the specific expungement provisions contained in this section controlled over the more general provisions for expungement of criminal records found in § 16-90-901 [repealed, now see § 16-90-1401 et seq.] and the statutes enumerated therein. L.H. v. State, 333 Ark. 613, 973 S.W.2d 477 (1998).

Subsection (k) of this section did not apply because the victim's sister testified about her own personal experience and did not present evidence regarding the arrest or detention of a juvenile and related proceedings; in fact, there was no reference at all to the prior juvenile proceedings during the State's case and thus, the trial court did not err in admitting the sister's testimony and denying the motion to transfer the case to juvenile court. Gilliam v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 434, 502 S.W.3d 558 (2016).

Release of Mental Evaluation Inappropriate.

Defendant's convictions for capital murder and kidnapping were appropriate because he did not dispute a witness' status as a juvenile and it was therefore clear that former section precluded the release of that witness' mental evaluation. Defendant also presented no evidence showing that the witness was subject to insane delusions or that her ability to perceive and remember was impaired; thus, the circuit court's competency ruling was not an abuse of discretion. Gilcrease v. State, 2009 Ark. 298, 318 S.W.3d 70 (2009) (decided under former § 9-27-352).

State Access.

Items were not inadmissible simply because they came from defendant's juvenile court file; subsection (a) of this section gives the juvenile court discretion to open files for the State. Echols v. State, 326 Ark. 917, 936 S.W.2d 509 (1996), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1244, 117 S. Ct. 1853, 137 L. Ed. 2d 1055 (1997).

Cited: Juvenile H. v. Crabtree, 310 Ark. 212, 833 S.W.2d 766 (1992); C.L. v. State, 2012 Ark. App. 374 (2012); Duggar v. City of Springdale, 2020 Ark. App. 220, 599 S.W.3d 672 (2020).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 17 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1992–2022 · leading case: Joshua Duggar v. City of Springdale, Arkansas, & Washington Cnty., Arkansas, 2020 Ark. App. 220 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020).
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Joshua Duggar v. City of Springdale, Arkansas, & Washington Cnty., Arkansas, 2020 Ark. App. 220 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 7× “Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (j) (Supp. 2019).”
Jegley v. Picado, 80 S.W.3d 332 (Ark. 2002). · cites it 4× “§ 9-14-210 (g) - (l) (2002) (setting out Office of Child Support Enforcement privacy safeguards); Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (h) (Repl. 2002) (protecting the privacy of juvenile records); Ark.”
Echols v. State, 936 S.W.2d 509 (Ark. 1996). · cites it 2× “A book, Never on a Broomstick, which is about the history of witches, was found in Echols’s room after the murders. Again, it was relevant to show Echols’s interest in the occult.”
L.H. v. State, 973 S.W.2d 477 (Ark. 1998). · cites it 12× “Instead, the chancellor determined that the adjudication record was to be retained and preserved as provided in Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (Supp. 1997). On appeal, Appellant argues that the chancellor erred in refusing to grant his motion to seal and expunge his juvenile record…”
Troutt Bros., Inc. v. Emison, 841 S.W.2d 604 (Ark. 1992). · cites it 4× “” Ark. Code Ann. §9-27-309 (a) (Repl. 1991).”
Vanesch v. State, 37 S.W.3d 196 (Ark. 2001). · cites it 2× “”); see also, Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (c) (Repl. 1998) (“Records of juveniles who are designated as extended juvenile jurisdiction offenders shall be kept for ten (10) years after the last adjudication of delinquency, date of plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or finding of…”
N.D. v. State, 383 S.W.3d 396 (Ark. 2011). · cites it 2× “On August 18, 2010, the day of the discovery deadline, the State filed a response to appellant’s motion to compel discovery, alleging that it complied with discovery; that the information requested by appellant was not in possession of the State; and that the information sought…”
Vanesch v. State, 16 S.W.3d 306 (Ark. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 4× “The State also cites Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 , which states that “[r]ecords of delinquency adjudications for which a juvenile could have been tried as an adult shall be made available to prosecuting attorneys for use at sentencing if the juvenile is subsequently tried as an…”
B.C. v. State, 40 S.W.3d 315 (Ark. 2001). · cites it 2× “First, he avers that the rehabilitative-punitive distinction is meaningless in practice because, with limited funding in the juvenile system, rehabilitation is not always possible.”
Gilliam v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 434 (Ark. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 15× “Prior to the commencement of testimony, defense counsel objected to the use of Gilliam’s juvenile court records arising from the 2010 incident, asserting that Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 , which governs confidentiality of juvenile records, trumped Ark.”
Gilliam v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 297 (Ark. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 2× “He argues that evidence of his prior history should have been excluded pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (k) (Repl. 2015).”
Roy Lee Russell v. State of Arkansas, 2021 Ark. 119 (Ark. 2021). · cites it 2× “While certain juvenile records are confidential under Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-27-309(k), Russell does not present any evidence of Davidson’s alleged juvenile record, which Russell contends included an adjudication for second-degree forgery.”
Show all 17 citing cases →
— Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309(a) — 1 case
Troutt Bros., Inc. v. Emison, 841 S.W.2d 604 (Ark. 1992). “” Ark. Code Ann. §9-27-309 (a) (Repl. 1991).”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309(a)(2) — 2 cases
BC v. State, 40 S.W.3d 315 (Ark. 2001).
Gilliam v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 434 (Ark. Ct. App. 2016). “Prior to the commencement of testimony, defense counsel objected to the use of Gilliam’s juvenile court records arising from the 2010 incident, asserting that Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 , which governs confidentiality of juvenile records, trumped Ark.”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309(f) — 1 case
R.G. v. State of Arkansas, 2021 Ark. App. 241 (Ark. Ct. App. 2021).
— Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309(h) — 1 case
Jegley v. Picado, 80 S.W.3d 332 (Ark. 2002). “§ 9-14-210 (g) - (l) (2002) (setting out Office of Child Support Enforcement privacy safeguards); Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (h) (Repl. 2002) (protecting the privacy of juvenile records); Ark.”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309(j) — 1 case
Joshua Duggar v. City of Springdale, Arkansas, & Washington Cnty., Arkansas, 2020 Ark. App. 220 (Ark. Ct. App. 2020). “Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 (j) (Supp. 2019).”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309(k) — 2 cases
Roy Lee Russell v. State of Arkansas, 2021 Ark. 119 (Ark. 2021). “While certain juvenile records are confidential under Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-27-309(k), Russell does not present any evidence of Davidson’s alleged juvenile record, which Russell contends included an adjudication for second-degree forgery.”
Gilliam v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 434 (Ark. Ct. App. 2016). “Prior to the commencement of testimony, defense counsel objected to the use of Gilliam’s juvenile court records arising from the 2010 incident, asserting that Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-309 , which governs confidentiality of juvenile records, trumped Ark.”
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