Forensic Interview Protection Laws
Forensic Interviews are Protected Recordings
Forensic Interviews are protected by The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure and the Texas Family Code. Forensic interviews performed at the Hunt County Children’s Advocacy Center are the property of the Hunt County District Attorney’s office.
These interviews are not to be duplicated or shared with unauthorized viewers. If you have questions about sharing Forensic Interviews, please contact the Hunt County Children’s Advocacy Center or the Hunt County District Attorney’s office.
Protective Laws are below:
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 39, Art. 39.14 states in part:13 (a) Subject to the restrictions provided by Section 64.408, Family Code, and Article 39.15 of this code, as soon as practicable after receiving a timely request from the defendant the state shall produce and permit the inspection and the electronic duplication, copying, and photographing, by or on behalf of the defendant, of any offense reports, any designated documents, papers, written or recorded statements of the defendant or a witness, including witness statements of law enforcement officers but not including the work product of counsel for the state in the case and their investigators and their notes or report, or any designated books, accounts, letters, photographs, or objects or other tangible things not otherwise privileged that constitute or contain evidence material to any matter involved in the action and that are in the possession, custody, or control of the state or any person under contract with the state. You will notice that the above information provides a discovery restriction for information described in Section 264.408 of Texas Family Code. This restriction of information relates to confidential materials created or maintained by CACs, such as forensic interview materials. For completeness, here is the text of Section 264.408, an important statute to know, and one that we will review multiple times: Sec.
264.408. USE OF INFORMATION AND RECORDS; CONFIDENTIALITY AND OWNERSHIP. (a) The files, reports, records, communications, and working papers used or developed in providing services under this chapter are confidential and not subject to public release under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may only be disclosed for purposes consistent with this chapter. Disclosure may be to: (1) the department, department employees, law enforcement agencies, prosecuting attorneys, medical professionals, and other state or local agencies that provide services to children and families; and (2) the attorney for the child who is the subject of the records and a court-appointed volunteer advocate appointed for the child under Section 107.031. (b) Information related to the investigation of a report of abuse or neglect under Chapter 261 and services provided as a result of the investigation is confidential as provided by Section 261.201. (c) The department, a law enforcement agency, and a prosecuting attorney may share with a center information that is confidential under Section 261.201 as needed to provide services under this chapter. Confidential information shared with or provided to a center remains the property of the agency that shared or provided the information to the center.
(d) A video recording of an interview of a child that is made by 13 One very important consideration when reviewing statutes, such as the one cited here, is that the Texas Legislature often amends existing statutes from Legislative Session to Legislative Session. The attorney of your organization’s choosing will be able to provide you with the most up-to-date statutory language. 16 a center is the property of the prosecuting attorney involved in the criminal prosecution of the case involving the child. If no criminal prosecution occurs, the video recording is the property of the attorney involved in representing the department in a civil action alleging child abuse or neglect. If the matter involving the child is not prosecuted, the video recording is the property of the department if the matter is an investigation by the department of abuse or neglect. If the department is not investigating or has not investigated the matter, the video recording is the property of the agency that referred the matter to the center. (d-1) A video recording of an interview described by Subsection (d) is subject to production under Article 39.14, Code of Criminal Procedure, and Rule 615, Texas Rules of Evidence. A court shall deny any request by a defendant to copy, photograph, duplicate, or otherwise reproduce a video recording of an interview described by Subsection (d), provided that the prosecuting attorney makes the video recording reasonably available to the defendant in the same manner as property or material may be made available to defendants, attorneys, and expert witnesses under Article 39.15(d), Code of Criminal Procedure.
