Request By:
Mr. Morgan T. Elkins, Commissioner
Kentucky State Police
919 Versailles Road
Frankfort, KY 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Elizabeth Marshall, Assistant Attorney General
As Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police you have requested an opinion of the Office of the Attorney General to clarify whether KRS 610.220 of the Kentucky Unified Juvenile Code authorizes the fingerprinting and photographing of a suspected juvenile offender without a court order. You have also requested a review of prior opinions OAG 66-253 and OAG 68-289, in conjunction with KRS 610.220, to determine whether these opinions reflect a current interpretation of the law applicable to the fingerprinting and photographing of juveniles.
KRS 610.220, as revised by the 1988 session of the General Assembly and enacted as emergency legislation on April 10, 1988, reads as follows:
(1) If an officer takes or receives a child into custody, the child may be held at a police station, secure juvenile detention facility, juvenile holding facility, intermittent holding facility, the offices of the court designated worker, or as necessary, in a hospital or clinic for the following purposes:
(a) Identification and booking;
(b) Attempting to notify the parents or person exercising custodial control or supervision of the child, a relative, guardian or other responsible person;
(c) Photographing;
(d) Fingerprinting;
(e) Physical examinations, including examinations for evidence;
(f) Evidence collection, including scientific tests;
(g) Records checks; and
(h) Other inquiries of a preliminary nature.
(2) A child may be held in custody pursuant to this section for a period of time not to exceed two (2) hours, unless an extension of time is granted. Permission for an extension of time may be granted by the court, trial commissioner, or court designated worker pursuant to KRS 610.200(5)(d) and the child may be retained in custody in facilities listed in subsection (1) of this section for the period of retention. 1
KRS 610.220 statutorily authorizes the fingerprinting and photographing of juveniles taken or received into custody by an officer without the requirement of a court order.
The Kentucky Unified Juvenile Code has superseded KRS Chapter 208 upon which prior opinions OAG 66-253 and OAG 68-289 were based. OAG 66-253 and OAG 68-289 are hereby withdrawn.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 KRS 610.220 as amended by the 1988 General Assembly is substantively the same with respect to fingerprinting and photographing as KRS 610.220 enacted by the 1986 General Assembly which became effective July 1, 1987.