![]() The Clerk's office then puts the records in the public case file, she said.Ī high-ranking Chicago Police Department source said they were shocked this information was in public court records. The county Sheriff brings the defendant to their first hearing and gives the records to the Clerk. Sinovic explained the police send their records - which CBS 2 found contained the sensitive information - to the Sheriff, who takes custody of a defendant. State's Attorney documents, she said, only use the initials of child sex crime victims and never include phone numbers or addresses - something CBS 2 confirmed in its review of the 17 case files. When CBS 2 contacted the State's Attorney's office, spokesperson Sarah Sinovic said it wasn't their responsibility to redact or restrict the files. When pressed repeatedly in a phone call, she refused to cite the specific statute, instead suggesting the State's Attorney's office or police were responsible. She claimed state law barred them from altering documents already in court files. 14, CBS 2 shared the list of cases it found contained the information with Clerk's office spokesperson Jalyne Strong-Shaw. Instead, they've blamed police and prosecutors, and falsely claim ed various laws prevent them from taking action. ![]() Since CBS 2 told Brown's office about the problem in mid-September, they've resisted making any changes. ![]() But in Illinois, the clerk of court is charged with maintaining documents. The Privacy of Child Victims of Criminal Sexual Offenses Act doesn't say which government body should ensure the confidential information of victims is protected. After about 10 minutes - and for a fee of 11 dollars and 23 cents - an employee handed over the records, no questions asked. On one occasion, in the criminal department on the 10 th floor of the Daley Center, CBS 2 producers requested records for several cases that contained the sensitive details. ![]() To see whether officials would provide hard copies, in addition to leaving them unredacted in the court's computer system, CBS 2 tried twice to purchase the documents.īoth times, employees gave unredacted copies to CBS 2, just like any other court file. Members of the public can normally request printed copies of court file s. If you have a story about sexual assault you want to share with CBS 2, you can contact us confidentially. On the advice of an ethicist, CBS 2 d ecided not to contact any of the victims whose information it found. CBS 2 is not disclosing the year it looked at or the specific search methods it used to find the cases. To find out how widespread the problem is, CBS 2 searched the court files of every case of sexual assault of a minor during a single year. While researching another story about sexual assault, CBS 2 producers realized these details were available in police records contained in public court files, which are open to anyone who walks into the Daley Center downtown. It's clearly spelled out in the 1986 Privacy of Child Victims of Criminal Sexual Offenses Act, which says any record in a child sex offense case "shall be restricted to exclude the identity of any child who is a victim." "But most immediately, there has to be a way to restrict access to that information, like, right now. "Whose-ever responsibility it is to rectify this, it sounds like there's a lot that needs to be looked into," said Sarah Layden, who runs Chicago sexual violence advocacy group Resilience.
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