Court rules child-sexual-assault documents are public record
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A divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that documents concerning child victims of sexual assault cannot be withheld under the state’s public-records law simply because the person requesting the information identifies the victim by name. In a 5-4 ruling, the court also said that as long as identifying information about the victim is redacted, agencies cannot withhold sexually explicit descriptions of what happened. That a requester might figure out who the victim is does not outweigh the Public Disclosure Act, which generally holds that records should be open, the court said. “To hold otherwise would eviscerate the act’s policy of favoring openness and disclosure,” wrote Justice Richard Sanders. Joining him in the majority were Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and Justices Susan Owens, Barbara Madsen and James Johnson. The dissent, written by Justice Mary Fairhurst and joined by Bobbe Bridge, Charles Johnson and Tom Chambers, argued that the ruling invades the privacy of children who have been molested. More : seattletimes.nwsource.com |