California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. Mendocino Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. J.M. (In re J.M.), A142585 (Cal. App. 2015):
Father's reliance on People v. Superior Court (2003) 107 Cal.App.4th 488 (People) is misplaced. In that case, a grand jury sought access to juvenile court records pursuant to section 827, but the grand jury did not support "its petition with any particular facts showing 'good cause' for the records except to state that the records were required in connection with an ongoing 'public watchdog' investigation being conducted by [the grand jury] under Penal Code section 925. [Citations.]" (People, supra, at p. 490.) The appellate court affirmed the juvenile court's denial of the petition, concluding the grand jury did not provide the court with any "specific facts concerning [the] need for the records or their relevance to any legitimate grand jury activity[.]" (Id. at p. 492.) In reaching this conclusion, the appellate court rejected the grand jury's argument that it was entitled to "unrestricted access" to the juvenile court records "with 'no questions asked[.]'" (Id. at p. 493.)
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