The Texas State Library and Archives Commission recently published revised editions of 4 local retention schedules concerning juvenile records retention: CC/Records of County Clerks, DC/Records of District Clerks, LC/Records of Lower Courts, and PS/Records of Public Safety (see previous blog post). Below, find a TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) abridged list of the changes.

Court Schedules (Local Schedules CC, DC, LC)

• Video and Audio Recordings of Juveniles – Simplified retention period to make more user friendly; grouped all audiovisual recordings into subseries.  (Affects series CC1700-05, CC1700-16, DC2100-05, DC2100-16, LC2450-01, LC2450-03, and LC2450-11)
• Annual Juvenile Reports – Changed named of series. (Affects series CC1700-07, DC2100-06, DC2100-07, and LC2450-02)
• Juvenile Delinquency Records (First Offender Program) Report on – Removed because County Courts do not receive it. (Affects series CC1700-06)
• Video Recordings of Requests for Breath Specimen Tests – Combined with Juvenile Case Papers.  (Affects series CC1700-08, DC2100-08, and LC2450-03)
• Statutory Warnings – Title change and simplified description.  (Affects series CC1700-09, DC2100-09, and LC2450-04)
• Juvenile Case Papers – Revised to follow new law; removed series based upon date of offense so user will only need to know classification of offense to determine retention period.  On Local Schedule LC, guidelines only provide for retention up to age 21 due to jurisdiction for cases heard by lower courts.  (Affects series CC1700-10, DC2100-10, and LC2450-05)
• Fingerprints and Photographs of Juveniles – Combined with Juvenile Case Papers. (Affects series CC1700-11, DC2100-11, and LC2450-06)
• Juvenile Court Docket – Added description. (Affects series CC1700-12, DC2100-12, and LC2450-07)
• Juvenile Information Systems (Local) – Retention period change; revised from permanent until electronic records are transferred to and made usable in a new system environment, or the files have met a retention period established in this or other commission schedules, whichever sooner. (Affects series CC1700-15, DC2100-15, and LC2450-10)
• Truant Conduct Files – New series, inclusive of court files and non-court intervention records.

Local Schedule PS

• Video and Audio Recordings of Juveniles – Simplified retention period to make more user friendly; grouped all audiovisual recordings into subseries.  (Affects series PS4225-05 and PS4225-11)
• Juvenile Case Files – Created subseries to simplify file keeping; no longer separated by first offender, non-referred, statutory warning, etc.  All case files on juveniles now classified here.  For cases referred to juvenile court, the date of the offense no longer influences retention.  There are no longer separate series for juvenile probation, law enforcement, and prosecutors – All offices will now refer to this series.  (Affects series PS4225-06, PS4225-08, PS4225-10, PS4225-13, and PS4225-17)
• Annual Juvenile Reports – New series that encapsulates all reports previously broken out into separate series.  Subseries provided for different kinds of reports.  (Affects series PS4225-07 and PS4225-09)
• Statutory Warnings – Changed titled and simplified descriptions.  (Affects series PS4225-12)
• Fingerprints and Photographs of Juveniles – Simplified retention based upon changes to Family Code which states that the date the photograph/fingerprints were taken no longer affects retention.  (Affects series PS4225-14)
• Juvenile Detention Register – Changed retention period due to Texas Juvenile Justice Department regulations requiring it.  (Affects series PS4225-15)
• Juvenile Information Systems (Local) – Retention period change; revised from permanent until electronic records are transferred to and made usable in a new system environment, or the files have met a retention period established in this or other commission schedules, whichever sooner.  (Affects series PS4225-16)
• Case Files and Working Papers (Prosecuting Attorneys Section) – Added notes for guidance for juvenile case records.  (Affects series PS2575-01)

Another Change

We have made the decision to no longer publish HTML/webpage versions of each local retention schedule as it is cumbersome to format and edit the code behind the scenes. Instead, we offer a PDF of each local schedule which can be downloaded or viewed online. You can search keywords in the PDF by pressing CTRL and F to use the ‘find’ function. And as always, contact us if you’re not sure how to find a retention period in the schedules.