Section 15-11-79. (Effective until January 1, 2014) Inspection of court files and records

   (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, all files and records of the court in a proceeding under this article are open to inspection only upon order of the court.

(b) Subject to the requirements of subsection (a) of Code Section 15-11-56, subsection (b) of Code Section 15-11-65, and Code Section 15-11-79.2, the general public shall be allowed to inspect court files and records for cases arising under Code Section 15-11-73 or any complaint, petition, or order from any case that was open to the public pursuant to paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (b) of Code Section 15-11-78. The general public shall be allowed to inspect court files and records for proceedings involving a legitimation petition under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (e) of Code Section 15-11-28.

(c) (1) The 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 the judge may deem proper and may punish by contempt any violation of those conditions.

   (2) The judge may permit any school principal or any school guidance counselor, school social worker, or school psychologist who is certified under Chapter 2 of Title 20 and who is counseling a child as a part of such counseling person's school employment duties to review official records of the court in any proceeding under this chapter concerning that child, including but not limited to records of that child's controlled substance or marijuana abuse, which records are protected by Code Section 49-5-41.1, under whatever conditions that the judge may deem proper and may punish by contempt any violation of those conditions.

(d) The judge shall permit authorized representatives of the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Corrections, 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) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the complaint, petition, order of adjudication, and order of disposition in any delinquency case in which the child has been adjudicated to be delinquent for a violation of the criminal laws of this state shall be disclosed upon request of counsel for the state or the accused for use preliminarily to or in conjunction with a subsequent juvenile or criminal proceeding in a court of record.

Ga. L. 1915, p. 35, § 11; Code 1933, § 24-2411; Ga. L. 1950, p. 367, § 30; Ga. L. 1951, p. 291, § 33; Ga. L. 1957, p. 307, § 1; Ga. L. 1968, p. 1013, § 19; Code 1933, § 24A-3501, enacted by Ga. L. 1971, p. 709, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1512, § 2; Code 1981, § 15-11-58; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1017, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1930, § 5; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1983, § 17; Ga. L. 1993, p. 979, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 15; Ga. L. 1995, p. 619, § 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1064, § 7; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1453, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1681, § 3; Code 1981, § 15-11-79, as redesignated by Ga. L. 2000, p. 20, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1162, § 14; Ga. L. 2008, p. 568, § 10/HB 1054; Ga. L. 2009, p. 288, § 2/SB 207.