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Brian Krebs
Washtech.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 7, 2002; 2:41 PM

In an unprecedented move, the federal judiciary's policymaking body said today it would allow limited public access to criminal court records on the Internet.

Eleven federal courts are allowing Internet access to criminal case files as part of a pilot program adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States, a panel of 27 federal judges responsible for crafting policy in the federal court system.

The conference in September approved a plan to continue offering Web-based access to civil and bankruptcy filings, provided that certain personal identifiers such as Social Security numbers, birth dates and account numbers are omitted.

But the Judicial Conference chose to prohibit Internet access to criminal files out of concern for the safety of law enforcement officers, and to safeguard the identity of key witnesses and informants.

"While the judges remain concerned about certain security and safety problems, they also realized that individuals could get the same criminal information directly from the local courthouse," said Dick Carelli, spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Internet access to criminal records is already available - or will be soon - in most participating courts, Carelli said. The Federal Judicial Center will track the courts during the course of the pilot project, and report its findings when the Judicial Conference revisits the issue again in September 2003.

"We'll see what goes right and what goes wrong, and go from there," Carelli said.

Media organizations have pressed state and federal courts to release more criminal record information, arguing that the records are public and should be made freely available online.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, praised the Judicial Conference for reaching what she called "an inevitable solution."

"There are no court decisions out there that say balancing privacy with openness is the law," Dalglish said. "My guess is the Judicial Conference looked at the law and concluded that not only was it good public policy to provide as much access as possible, but it's also the law."

"This decision will make it much easier for reporters to do their jobs around the clock, instead of racing from one courthouse to the next before closing time," she said. "And the public will be better informed as a result."

Dalglish also said the decision would have an enormous impact on state courts currently wrangling with similar issues.

The National Center for State Courts is expected to consider electronic access to criminal records when it begins drafting model access and privacy rules at its national conference in Washington, D.C. next week.