Section 15-11-704. (Effective January 1, 2014) Public inspection of court files and records; use in subsequent juvenile or criminal prosecution

   (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section and Code Sections 15-11-705 and 15-11-706, all files and records of the court in a proceeding under this chapter shall be open to inspection only upon order of the court.

(b) The general public shall be allowed to inspect court files and records for any proceeding that was open to the public pursuant to paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (b) of Code Section 15-11-700.

(c) A judge may permit authorized representatives of recognized organizations compiling statistics for proper purposes to inspect and make abstracts from official records under whatever conditions upon their use and distribution such judge may deem proper and may punish by contempt any violation of those conditions.

(d) A judge shall permit authorized representatives of DJJ, the Governor's Office for Children and Families, and the Council of Juvenile Court Judges to inspect and extract data from any court files and records for the purpose of obtaining statistics on children and to make copies pursuant to the order of the court.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in Code Sections 15-11-701 and 15-11-703, the complaint, petition, order of adjudication, and order of disposition in any delinquency case shall be disclosed upon request of the prosecuting attorney or the accused for use preliminarily to or in conjunction with a subsequent juvenile or criminal proceeding in a court of record.

Code 1981, § 15-11-704, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 1-1/HB 242.