Public
Access & Right to Know |
Public
Access to Court Records
Right to Know Law, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, et seq.
Judicial
records are not within the scope of the Right to Know Law.
The Judiciary is bound by Court Rule 1:38.
Court
Rule 1:38 reads in part
"All
records which are required to be made, maintained or kept
on file by any Court, office, or official within the judicial
branch of government shall be deemed a public record and
shall be available for public inspection and copying,
as provided by law, except..
- Personnel
and pensions records
- Records
required by statute or rule to be kept confidential
or withheld from indiscriminate public inspection.
-
Records ordered by a Court to be impounded or kept confidential.
-
Records of Pre Trail Intervention Programs
- Records
of programs approved for operation under Rule 7:8-1
(mediation of minor disputes)
- Administrative
reports required to be prepared by the Municipal Court
Judges under Rule 1:32
Access
to records involving Domestic Violence can be determined only
by the Judge.
Access
to Court Records
Reasonable
Access to Court Records is determined by the Court using the
following factors:
- Court
size
- Volume
of cases
- Staff
- Available
resources
- Budget
- Existence
of records.
Access to records is available on Tuesday and Wednesday
because of the operations of this Court. When the Court
staff is reduced to one person as a result of to vacation,
illness or days off, Court records will not be available.
If
Court staff determines a record is not available for public
access, an appeal may be made in writing to Judge Frank
P. Leanza, JMC, at the Washington Township Municipal Court,
43 Schooley's Mountain Road, Long Valley, NJ 07853.
Docket
Books
Due
to the possibility of Expunged records being readable, the
Court reserves the right to make some pages of the Docket
Book "sealed" unless the record can be completely
eradicated. Docket Books may be read, but we have no method
of making copies of these pages, you must hand copy the
information.
Computer
Based Records
Computer
based records are available only in formats presently available
from the ATS/ACS system. The Administrative Office of the
Courts will NOT design programs or reports
for specific requested information.
Example:
Search of all red cars with New Jersey registrations or
all vehicles parked on Main Street from May 1 to present).
Retention
Periods
Some
records may not be available because they are beyond the
retention period allowed by the Administrative Office of
the Courts. The retention period is from the date of final
action on the case. Some retention periods are:
|
Record |
Retention
Period |
Record |
Retention
Period |
| Court
Calendars |
2
years |
Criminal
Complaints |
6
years |
| Sound
Recordings |
5
years |
Traffic
Summons (DWI) |
15
years |
| Traffic
Summons (non DWI) |
6
years |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
