State-by-state guide:

Vermont

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 33. § 5538 (1998): By motion of the court or the juvenile, the court can seal all court records if two years have passed since the final discharge of the juvenile, if the juvenile has not been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving "moral turpitude," and the juvenile is rehabilitated. Upon the entry of an order sealing the files, the proceedings are to be considered never to have occurred. Inspection of the files and records may thereafter be permitted by the court only upon petition by the person who is the subject of such records, and only to those persons named therein.

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 33. § 5523(c) (1998): Juvenile court proceedings are to be kept confidential, except proceedings may be open to the public with the consent of the child at issue and his parent or guardian.

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 33. § 5536 (1998): Court and law enforcement reports and files are not open to public for inspection, nor their contents to be disclosed to the public by any person. However, upon a finding that a child is a delinquent by the commission of an act which would have been a felony if committed by an adult, the child’s name may be made available to the victim of the delinquent act. Furthermore, the court may allow access to the records to any other person who has a "need to know."

Access denied: Compelling interest of state in confidentiality of juvenile records overrode any compelling need of former deputy state prosecutor for access to such records, where former prosecutor desired to use juvenile records in her defense of a civil rights action brought against her personally by the mother of juvenile, at least where former prosecutor failed to show she had exhausted all other avenues of relief, and failed to show any particularized need for the material. In re J.R., 146 Vt. 185, 499 A.2d 1155 (1985).

Access granted: Where a juvenile initially faces criminal charges in district court, a motion to transfer the case to juvenile court is open to the public. The confidentiality afforded to juveniles pursuant to Chapter 55 of Title 33 attaches only after a case is transferred out of the district court. In re R.D., 154 Vt. 173; 574 A.2d 160 (1990).

Access granted: The Vermont Supreme Court held that a juvenile accused of manslaughter is not entitled to close his arraignment and seal related documents prior to a determination of whether the trial should be in juvenile court. According to the court, the pretrial proceeding and documents are presumptively open to the public and that juvenile proceedings become confidential only after they are transferred to juvenile court. The court said that it was not overruling In re J.S., discussed below. It emphasized that proceedings are only secret if they are in juvenile court. In re K.F., 559 A.2d 663 (Vt. 1989).

Access denied: The Vermont Supreme Court reversed a trial court’s decision to admit the media to a juvenile proceeding and held that a statute excluding the public from juvenile proceedings is constitutional. The Vermont Supreme Court stated that juvenile proceedings are not criminal trials which the public and press have a First Amendment right to attend. In Re J.S., 438 A.2d 1124 (Vt. 1981).