Louisiana Children’s Code 616.2 – Central registry; maintenance by state police; use; confidentiality
Terms Used In Louisiana Children's Code 616.2
- Abuse: means any one of the following acts that seriously endanger the physical, mental, or emotional health, welfare, and safety of the child:
(a) The infliction, attempted infliction, or, as a result of inadequate supervision, the allowance of the infliction or attempted infliction of physical or mental injury upon the child by a parent or any other person. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- Child: means a person under eighteen years of age who, prior to juvenile proceedings, has not been judicially emancipated under Civil Code Article 366 or emancipated by marriage under Civil Code Article 367. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- Department: means the Department of Children and Family Services. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
A. The Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information in the office of state police shall maintain a central index registry of all reports of sexual abuse obtained in accordance with Article 615.1. The purpose of the registry is to provide information of past reports of child sexual abuse to assist in the proper evaluation of current reports of abuse which may include a pattern of incidents and which may prove admissible in a criminal prosecution under Code of Evidence Article 404(B) or 412.2.
B. When the information contained in the reports is obtained by the bureau in accordance with Article 615.1:
(1) The pertinent information regarding the report and investigation shall be indexed by the name of the alleged perpetrator and shall be maintained for the exclusive use of child protection and law enforcement investigators in the course of investigations, for the sole purpose of evaluating the existence of patterns of incidents in pending child abuse investigations.
(2) All pertinent information regarding these reports and investigations shall be strictly confidential and shall not under any circumstances be disclosed or ordered to be produced in conjunction with any legal proceeding or matter, except as provided for in this Article. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections shall promulgate rules and regulations, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, to provide for the disposition, handling, maintenance, and storage of the information forwarded to them pursuant to this Article and not in conflict with this Article.
(3) Notwithstanding Subparagraph (B)(2) of this Article, all information regarding the reports shall be maintained by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections for ten years from the date of receipt of the report, unless a subsequent report is received during that time period, in which case, information from all reports will be maintained indefinitely.
Acts 2006, No. 394, §1.