A bill that would remove a long-standing ban on public access to Mississippi youth court hearings and records is advancing in the Legislature, its author and supporters said.
Senate Bill 2728, authored by Republican Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula, would eliminate language that bars the public from attending youth court proceedings and requires a judge’s explicit order to release youth court records, Wiggins told Mississippi Today. The Senate passed the bill mostly along partisan lines in February, and the House replaced it with its own version that retained the openness provisions and passed with little opposition in March. A conference committee must now reconcile the two versions, legislative leaders said.
Mississippi’s youth courts, created in 1979 to handle juvenile delinquency and child abuse and neglect cases, have long been closed to the public and have kept records confidential, supporters of the bill said. Wiggins said the blanket closure fosters distrust and other negative consequences and argued that openness is a hallmark of democracy. “Every other court in the state of Mississippi is open,” he said.
Opponents, including some judges and lawmakers, argued the courts should remain closed to protect children. Jeffery Harness, a family law attorney and Democratic representative from Fayette, said the matters are too personal for public scrutiny and that supportive family members can still help outside the courtroom. Lee County youth court Judge Staci Bevill warned that public access in the age of social media could expose children’s trauma and affect their futures.
Those who say the secrecy harms families pointed to personal experiences at a joint meeting of the Court Improvement Program Statewide Multi-Disciplinary Task Force and the Mississippi Children, Youth and Families Collaboration Initiative. Zoey Tether, who said she aged out of the system about a year ago, told Mississippi Today she was separated from a 5-year-old sister when she was 14 and received little information. “I was very isolated during my stay in CPS,” Tether said. Foster parent Adrienne Williams said a judge barred her from discussing the medical needs of a now-adopted, medically fragile child, leaving crucial context out of court decisions.
Attorneys and advocates also criticized confidentiality for limiting oversight and legal representation. Parent defender Chad King said judges in one county often do not know what is happening in neighboring counties, and that restricted access contributes to fewer appeals and less accountability. Harness said improving training for court employees would be a better remedy than opening hearings. Bevill said people concerned about judicial decisions can file complaints with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance. Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph sent a memo to local judges urging them to review judicial conduct rules, Mississippi Today reported, after judges mobilized against earlier, broader proposals that would have changed where youth courts sit.
