Virginia Code 9.1-126: Application and construction of article
A. This article shall apply to original or copied criminal history record information, maintained by a criminal justice agency of (i) the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions and (ii) the United States or another state or its political subdivisions which exchange such information with an agency covered in clause (i), but only to the extent of that exchange.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 9.1-126
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Criminal history record information: means records and data collected by criminal justice agencies on adult individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations, or other formal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
- Criminal justice agency: includes any program certified by the Commission on VASAP pursuant to § 18. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
- Department: means the Department of Criminal Justice Services. See Virginia Code 9.1-101
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
B. The provisions of this article shall not apply to original or copied (i) records of entry, such as police blotters, maintained by a criminal justice agency on a chronological basis and permitted to be made public, if such records are not indexed or accessible by name, (ii) court records of public criminal proceedings, including opinions and published compilations thereof, (iii) records of traffic offenses disseminated to or maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of regulating the issuance, suspension, revocation, or renewal of drivers’ or other operators’ licenses, (iv) statistical or analytical records or reports in which individuals are not identified and from which their identities cannot be ascertained, (v) announcements of executive clemency, pardons, or removals of political disabilities, (vi) posters, announcements, or lists for identifying or apprehending fugitives or wanted persons, (vii) criminal justice intelligence information, or (viii) criminal justice investigative information. Except as provided in §§ 15.2-1722, 16.1-299, and 19.2-390, nothing contained in this article shall be construed as requiring any criminal justice agency to collect, maintain, or update criminal history record information, as defined in § 9.1-101, when such information is already available and readily accessible from another criminal justice agency.
C. Nothing contained in this article shall be construed as prohibiting a criminal justice agency from disclosing to the public factual information concerning the status of an investigation, the apprehension, arrest, release, or prosecution of an individual, the adjudication of charges, or the correctional status of an individual, which is related to the offense for which the individual is currently within the criminal justice system.