Expatriate Owl

A politically-incorrect perspective that does not necessarily tow the party line, on various matters including but not limited to taxation, academia, government and religion.

Monday, July 11, 2011

NYC's Opposition to Confidentiality is Confidential

I really did not believe that I would have anything monumental to say that hasn't been said about the Casey Anthony case. No justice was delivered, and even if any or all of the jurors had possessed an IQ exceeding 190, no justice could have been delivered because, with the big time losers for a mother and grandparents (not to mention the unknown and legally nonexistent sperm donor), little Caylee was doomed from the time the sperm penetrated the ovum. The defense counsel, who could have let things sit after winning, partied over the victory, to the shame and deprecation of the legal profession.

In New York a few weeks ago, Matter of Kiara C., a case with some similarities and differences to the Anthony case, was handed down by the Queens County Family Court. Kiara was a 15-year-old teenager from a highly dysfunctional family who, having been impregnated by an illegal alien, hid her pregnancy, and hid the infant upon giving birth, recklessly suffocating the infant in the process. Kiara was tried as a juvenile delinquent and not as an adult.

Kiara is a far, far better person than Casey Anthony. Kiara has graduated high school, and is now in a vocational training program. It doesn't do a whole lot for her deceased infant, but at least Kiara has an outside fighting chance to become a functional and valuable member of society at some level.

The issue in the Matter of Kiara C was whether Kiara's records of delinquency should be sealed. The City of New York had vigorously opposed the motion to seal Kiara's record, but in a well-reasoned opinion, Judge John Hunt wrote that "The adjudication of juvenile delinquency in this case was never intended to constitute a Scarlet Letter which must be forever displayed to the public at large, and the notion of imposing punishment is contrary to the purposes underlying the juvenile delinquency statute."

A reporter for the New York Law Journal queried the Law Department of the City of New York for a comment. What did the spokesperson for the Law Department say? The standard line that they do not comment on cases involving juveniles on account of the confidentiality concerns.

Confidentiality concerns indeed!

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