sexual assault records

28 Mar, 2014

TCOG testifies on bill to make sexual assault victims confidential

By |2014-04-14T18:35:45-05:00March 28, 2014|Categories: crime records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Tennessee Coalition for Open Government's executive director Deborah Fisher offered testimony to the House State Government Committee Tuesday pointing out how proposed legislation to redact the names of sexual assault victims from crime records could reduce the media's ability to report on sexual assault crimes. The House State Government Committee passed the bill, which had been amended by the sponsors from its original version to apply only to cases in which there is a conviction or guilty plea. The bill also allows individual victims to sign a written waiver to opt out of the law's confidentiality requirements. Fisher noted stories by Tennessee media in which public records were used to [...]

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22 Mar, 2014

Citizens should have access to crime records

By |2014-04-09T16:29:34-05:00March 22, 2014|Categories: crime records|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Last week in a House subcommittee a police chief expressed alarm that anyone could come in to his department and get access to crime records after a case is closed. He was testifying in support of a bill that would make victims of sexual assault crimes anonymous after the case is over. The proposal would exempt their names and any other potentially identifying information from the Tennessee’s Open Records Act. I applaud that police chief for his stated adherence to Tennessee’s laws, which give any Tennessee citizen access to local law enforcement’s investigations into a crime after the case is over or prosecution is ended. But unlike the chief, I’m [...]

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3 Mar, 2014

Metro Pulse write about sex crime secrecy bill

By |2019-09-11T16:14:36-05:00March 3, 2014|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Reporter Paige Huntoon writes in Metro Pulse in Knoxville about a bill that would make information about sex crimes secret. She interviews the bill's sponsor, state Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, as well as the state police chiefs association which brought it to Massey to carry. Also interviewed is Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and the Tennessee Press Association, which is seeking revisions so less information about sex crimes would be secret from the public. Huntoon reports that Massey is open to revising the bill to address concerns. Here is a link to Huntoon's story: "Broadly written sex crimes bill attracts concerns, criticism from press and open-records advocates"       [...]

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21 Feb, 2014

News Sentinel: Privacy bill of no real help to sexual assault victims

By |2014-04-09T16:50:57-05:00February 21, 2014|Categories: crime records, exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

This editorial was published by the Knoxville News Sentinel on Feb. 16, and reprinted here with permission: A bill that would ostensibly protect the privacy of sexual assault victims in Tennessee would actually endanger criminal prosecutions and do nothing to lessen the anguish of the people it purports to help. The legislation, introduced in the Senate by Knoxville Republican Becky Duncan Massey at the request of Metro Nashville government, would make all records containing virtually any information about a sexual assault victim confidential. “No portion of any report, paper, picture, photograph, video, court file, or other document in the custody or possession of any public officer or employee which identifies [...]

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12 Feb, 2014

Tennessean editorial asks “Sexual assault privacy bill: protecting victims or those in power?”

By |2014-04-09T16:48:42-05:00February 12, 2014|Categories: crime records, exemptions|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Tennessean publishes an editorial against proposed legislation that exempts parts of sexual assault crime records from the public records law. The editorial is reprinted here with permission: State legislation backed by Metro Nashville, supposedly to protect the privacy of victims of sexual assault, has many implications for our state, but helping rape victims is not among them. Senate Bill 2254 is first and foremost an attempt to intimidate news media organizations throughout Tennessee, as they pursue a lawsuit against Metro over its refusal to release records in the rape investigation involving former Vanderbilt University football players. The Tennessean is among the news organizations that filed the suit last week. But [...]

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