New South Wales Consolidated Acts

YOUNG OFFENDERS ACT 1997 - SECT 66

66 Disclosure of records

(1) A person who acquires information or prepares a record in the exercise of functions under this Act must not, directly or indirectly, divulge the information to another person except in the exercise of functions under this Act.

: Maximum penalty--500 penalty units (in the case of a corporation) or 50 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months, or both, in any other case.

(2) Despite subsection (1), information may be divulged in the following circumstances--

(a) records of, or relating to, cautions and conferences may be divulged to the child, a person responsible for the child or a legal representative of the child,

(b) records of, or relating to, cautions and conferences under this Act may be divulged to an investigating official, specialist youth officer, conference convenor, conference administrator, the Director of Public Prosecutions or a court for the purpose of determining whether or not to take action under this Act,

(c) records of, or relating to, cautions and conferences under this Act may be divulged to the Children's Court for the purpose of making a decision concerning sentencing,

(d) records of, or relating to, warnings under this Act may be divulged to a youth liaison officer for the purpose of taking action under section 16A,

(e) records of, or relating to, cautions and conferences under this Act may (subject to any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (3)) be divulged to an authorised officer of the Department of Justice,

(f) records of, or relating to, warnings, cautions and conferences under this Act may (subject to any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (3)) be divulged to a person employed in the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research,

(f1) records of, or relating to, warnings, cautions and conferences under this Act may (subject to any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (3)) be divulged to a person employed in the Australian Bureau of Statistics or the Australian Institute of Criminology, but only if the name and other information identifying a person to whom any such record relates have been removed,

(g) records of, or relating to, warnings, cautions and conferences under this Act may (subject to any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (3)) be divulged to an authorised officer of the Department of Justice for use in connection with the Department's Youth on Track scheme or such other early intervention or diversionary program administered by the Department that is prescribed by the regulations,

(h) any records divulged to an authorised officer of the Department of Justice under paragraph (g) may (subject to any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (3)) be divulged by an authorised officer of the Department to a non-government organisation engaged by the Department to provide services in connection with the Department's Youth on Track scheme or such other early intervention or diversionary program administered by the Department that is prescribed by the regulations.

(2A) Despite subsection (1), information (including records) referred to in that subsection may (subject to any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (3)) be divulged to the Ombudsman, or a person authorised by the Ombudsman, for the purposes of the exercise of any of the functions of the Ombudsman.

(2B) Despite subsection (1), information (including records) referred to in that subsection that is in the form of statistical data and does not identify any person to whom the information relates may--

(a) be divulged to the Minister or a person employed in the Department of Justice who is involved in the administration or execution of this Act, and

(b) be included in any report to Parliament.

(3) The regulations may make for provision for or with respect to the divulging of records in the circumstance referred to in subsection (2) (e)-(h) or (2A).

(4) In this section--

"authorised officer of the Department of Justice" means any of the following persons employed in the Department--

(a) the Secretary,

(b) a Deputy Secretary,

(c) the Chief Executive of Juvenile Justice or a Deputy Chief Executive of Juvenile Justice,

(d) a juvenile justice officer,

(e) such other persons employed in the Department (or persons belonging to a class of employee) as may be prescribed by the regulations.