Section 120 — Youth Criminal Justice Act: Access to R.C.M.P. records

The following persons may, during the period set out in subsection (3), be given access to a record kept under subsection 115(3) in respect of an offence set out in the schedule: the young person to whom the record relates; the young person’s counsel, or any representative of that counsel; an employee or agent of the Government of Canada, for statistical purposes under the Statistics Act ; any person or member of a class of persons that a youth justice court judge considers has a valid interest in the record, to the extent directed by the judge, if the judge is satisfied that access is desirable in the public interest for research or statistical purposes; the Attorney General or a peace officer, when the young person is or has been charged with another offence set out in the schedule or the same offence more than once, for the purpose of investigating any offence that the young person is suspected of having committed, or in respect of which the young person has been arrested or charged, whether as a young person or as an adult; the Attorney General or a peace officer to establish the existence of an order in any offence involving a breach of the order; and any person for the purposes of the Firearms Act . During the period set out in subsection (3), access to the portion of a record kept under subsection 115(3) that contains the name, date of birth and last known address of the young person to whom the fingerprints belong, may be given to a person for identification purposes if a fingerprint identified as that of the young person is found during the investigation of an offence or during an attempt to identify a deceased person or a person suffering from amnesia. For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), the period of access to a record kept under subsection 115(3) in respect of an offence is the following: if the offence is an indictable offence, other than an offence referred to in paragraph (b), the period starting at the end of the applicable period set out in paragraphs 119(2)(h) to (j) and ending five years later;

and if the offence is a serious violent offence for which the Attorney General has given notice under subsection 64(2) (intention to seek adult sentence), the period starting at the end of the applicable period set out in paragraphs 119(2)(h) to (j) and continuing indefinitely. If a young person was found guilty of an offence set out in the schedule is, during the period of access to a record under subsection (3), found guilty of an additional offence set out in the schedule, committed when he or she was a young person, access to the record may be given to the following additional persons: a parent of the young person or any adult assisting the young person under subsection 25(7); a judge, court or review board, for a purpose relating to proceedings against the young person under this Act or any other Act of Parliament in respect of offences committed or alleged to have been committed by the young person, whether as a young person or as an adult; or a member of a department or agency of a government in Canada, or of an organization that is an agent of, or is under contract with, the department or agency, who is preparing a report in respect of the young person under this Act or for the purpose of assisting a court in sentencing the young person after the young person becomes an adult, engaged in the supervision or care of the young person, whether as a young person or as an adult, or in the administration of a sentence in respect of the young person, whether as a young person or as an adult, or considering an application for conditional release, or for a record suspension under the Criminal Records Act , made by the young person after the young person becomes an adult. A person who is given access to a record under paragraph (1)(c) or (d) may subsequently disclose information contained in the record, but shall not disclose the information in any form that would reasonably be expected to identify the young person to whom it relates. If, during the period of access to a record under subsection (3), the young person is convicted of an additional offence set out in the schedule, committed when he or she was an adult, this Part no longer applies to the record and the record shall be dealt with as a record of an adult and may be included on the automated criminal conviction records retrieval system maintained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and for the purposes of the Criminal Records Act , the finding of guilt in respect of the offence for which the record is kept is deemed to be a conviction.