THE COURTS
Title 237—JUVENILE RULES
PART I. RULES
[ 237 PA. CODE CH. 1 ]
Order Amending Rule 105 of the Rules of Juvenile Court Procedure; No. 703 Supreme Court Rules Doc.
[46 Pa.B. 5533]
[Saturday, August 27, 2016]
Order Per Curiam
And Now, this 11th day of August, 2016, upon the recommendation of the Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee, the proposal having been published for public comment at 45 Pa.B. 4902 (August 22, 2015):
It Is Ordered pursuant to Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania that Rule 105 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Juvenile Court Procedure is amended in the following form.
This Order shall be processed in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. No. 103(b), and shall be effective on October 1, 2016.
Annex A
TITLE 237. JUVENILE RULES
PART I. RULES
Subpart A. DELINQUENCY MATTERS
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS Rule 105. Search Warrants.
The Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules 200 through 211 and Rule 212(B), shall apply to search warrants in juvenile delinquency matters.
Comment Search warrants for juvenile cases are not available for public inspection. The search warrant is to be treated as a juvenile record and the provisions of Rule 160(A) apply. Once a search warrant is executed, it is filed with the Court of Common Pleas and becomes a part of the official court record. Also, information contained in the affidavit of probable cause attached to the search warrant is a part of law enforcement records, which is also confidential. See 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 6307 & 6308 and Rule 160.
Official Note: Rule 105 adopted April 1, 2005, effective October 1, 2005. Amended August 11, 2016, effective October 1, 2016.
Committee Explanatory Reports:
Final Report explaining the provisions of Rule 105 published with the Court's Order at 35 Pa.B. 2214 (April 16, 2005).
Final Report explaining the amendments to Rule 1608 published with the Court's Order at 46 Pa.B. 5533 (August 27, 2016).
FINAL REPORT1
Amendment of Pa.R.J.C.P. 105On August 11, 2016, the Court amended Pennsylvania Rule of Juvenile Court Procedure 105 concerning search warrants in juvenile delinquency matters to incorporate by reference Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 212(B).
On October 22, 2013, the Court amended Pa.R.Crim.P. 212 to add that unexecuted warrants and affidavit(s) are not public records and should be destroyed upon return to the issuing authority. This amendment prompted the Committee to examine whether Pa.R.J.C.P. 105 should be amended to extend the ''incorporation by reference'' of that rule to include all or part of Pa.R.Crim.P. 212.
In its present form, Pa.R.Crim.P. 212(A) acknowledges that a warrant and affidavit in criminal matters are publicly available, but it limits access until the warrant has been executed. The Committee did not recommend referencing Pa.R.Crim.P. 212(A) because it might suggest that such access, albeit limited, extends to juvenile cases. See also Pa.R.J.C.P. 105, Comment, as amended.
Regarding Pa.R.Crim.P. 212(B), the Committee favored incorporating that provision into Pa.R.J.C.P. 105. While the Committee did not believe this information would be available in juvenile cases, it did agree that unexecuted warrants should be destroyed ''[g]iven the potential harm to the subject of a search warrant.'' See Pa.R.Crim.P. 212, Comment.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 16-1478. Filed for public inspection August 26, 2016, 9:00 a.m.] _______
1 The Committee's Final Report should not be confused with the official Committee Comments to the rules. Also note that the Supreme Court does not adopt the Committee's Comments or the contents of the Committee's explanatory Final Reports.
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
