NCJ Number
151740
Journal
Juvenile and Family Court Journal Volume: 45 Issue: 3 Dated: (1994) Pages: 65-87
Date Published
1994
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews the legal, ethical, and practical barriers to the sharing of information among juvenile justice agencies and recommends practical steps to overcome these barriers.
Abstract
The analysis rests on a review of documents from private and public organizations with an interest in information sharing, State and Federal court decisions, State and Federal laws, government documents, and law review and journal articles. The analysis reveals that few legal barriers exist to information sharing between parties with legitimate interests. In addition, ethical issues are involved in both sharing and withholding information, and practical constraints are the main reasons why agencies within many jurisdictions do not share information. Thus, the lack of information sharing often results from habit and longstanding practice, or a lack of established policies and procedures regarding information sharing. Twenty actions are recommended to assist a jurisdiction in developing an integrated information system built on information sharing. Notes, reference lists, and appended lists of State laws (Author abstract modified)