CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2012 WL 3870608, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 14874
...atutes (2006); violated her right to privacy under article I, section 23 of the Florida Constitution; and violated her right to due process under article I, section 9 of the Florida Constitution. In the order under review, the trial court ruled that section
943.053(3), Florida Statutes (2006), creates an exception to the confidentiality established for juvenile criminal history records by section
985.04(1), and that FDLE had complied with the applicable statutes by making appellant’s arrest record available to the public....
...Section
985.04 governs the treatment of the records and other information obtained or created under chapter 985. Section
985.04(1) establishes the confidential treatment afforded information relating to juveniles and provides, in pertinent part, as follows: (1) Except as provided in subsections (2), (3), (6), and (7) and s.
943.053, all information obtained under this chapter in the discharge of official duty by any judge, any employee of the court, any authorized agent of the department [of *270 Juvenile Justice], ......
...ony; (b) Found by a court to have committed three or more violations of law which, if committed by an adult, would be misdemeanors; [[Image here]] shall not be considered confidential and exempt from s.
119.07(1) solely because of the child’s age. Section
943.053(3), relied upon by FDLE, provides, in pertinent part: (3)(a) Criminal history information, including information relating to minors, compiled by the Criminal Justice Information Program from intrastate sources shall be available on a...
...FDLE argues that it is required by chapter 943 to collect and maintain fingerprint information for minors who are charged with or found to have committed petit theft, section
943.051(3)(b)10, Florida Statutes (2006), as well as the other offenses listed in section
943.051(3)(b). Further, section
943.053(3)(a) directs FDLE to provide such information as a public record upon request. FDLE interprets the first sentence of section
943.053(3)(a) as expressly including “information relating to minors” within “criminal history information,” and the second sentence as allowing “persons in the private sector” to have that criminal history information provided to them after tendering a fee of $23 per name submitted. According to FDLE, section
985.04(1), upon which appellant relies, contains an express exception to confidentiality of juvenile records as contained in “s.
943.053.” G.G. contends that FDLE’s interpretation of section
943.053(3)(a) renders section
985.04(1) meaningless....
...985.11(l)(a)(b), Florida Statutes (2006); section 39.045(5), Florida Statutes (1995), renumbered to section
985.04(1), Florida Statutes (2006); section 39.045(9), Florida Statutes (1995), renumbered to section
985.04(2), Florida Statutes (2006); and section
943.053....
...91-3.053, all information obtained under this part in the discharge of official duty ... is confidential and may be disclosed only to the authorized personnel of the court, ... [or other authorized agencies]. Ch. 96-388, § 18 at 2318, Laws of Fla. Finally, pertinent to the issue in this case, the first sentence of section 943.053(3) was amended by adding the words “including information relating to juveniles ” after “[criminal history information” in the first sentence of section 943.053(3). Ch. 96-388, § 21 at 2320-21, Laws of Fla. Analysis Examining the law preceding the 1996 amendments and studying the changes made to the pertinent statutory provisions, we conclude that the first sentence of section 943.053(3)(a), limited by its express language, means simply that “[c]riminal history information,” “including information relating to minors,” is available to criminal justice agencies on a priority basis and free of charge. The second sentence of section 943.053(3), which states that “persons in the private sector ......
...Further, “statutes relating to the same subject matter should be read in pari materia, and such rule is particularly applicable where such statutes are enacted as part of the single act.” McGraw v. R and R Inv., Ltd.,
877 So.2d 886, 890 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004). As read, sections
985.04 and
943.053(3) are not in conflict or inconsistent. To accept FDLE’s reading of section
943.053(3), as allowing the public access to all juvenile arrest records regardless of the severity of the offense or offenses committed by the juvenile, would *273 render section
985.04 meaningless....
...an axiom of statutory construction that an interpretation of a statute which relates to an unreasonable or ridiculous conclusion or a result obviously not designed by the Legislature will not be adopted.” Allied Fid. Ins. Co. v. State,
415 So.2d 109 , 110— 11 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). Thus, we reject FDLE’s argument that section
943.053(3) authorizes it to disseminate publically all juvenile criminal history records in its possession. We agree with G.G. that FDLE’s authority to disseminate criminal justice information under section
943.053(3) is expressly limited by section
943.053(1), which provides that release of such information shall be made “only in accordance with federal and state laws, regulations and rules.” Section
985.04 is one such state law that specifies which juvenile records may be released and which must be maintained as confidential and not publically released....
...into custody for a felony violation or found to have committed three or more misdemeanors shall not be considered confidential and exempt from public disclosure solely because of the juvenile’s age at the time the juvenile was taken into custody. Section 943.053, F.S., is amended to provide that criminal history information, including information relating to juveniles, must be available on a priority *274 basis to criminal justice agencies for criminal justice purposes free of charge and to other noncriminal justice governmental agencies on an approximate-cost basis....
...The final bill analysis prepared for the House Committee on Criminal Justice is similar. Fla. H.R. Comm, on Crim. Justice, SB 156 (1996) Final Bill Analysis 8-9 (August 9, 1996) (emphasis supplied). Conclusion When subsection (1) and (2) of section
985.04 are read in pari materia with section
985.11(l)(a)(b) and section
943.053(3), it is clear that only the arrest records of those juveniles who the legislature has designated in section
985.04(2) have lost their confidential status and are available to the public pursuant to section
943.053(3)(a)....
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