Open Access To Juvenile Court Proceedings in PA

In another bit of news that touches on the Reed Smith appellate group, this time on the east coast, in response to an appeal by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette handled by my colleague Tom McGough, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania found last week that juvenile court hearings in Pennsylvania involving abused and neglected children are presumed to be open to the public unless compelling privacy protection concerns are present. In this case the trial court's decision to deny public access was affirmed, because publicity posed too great a threat to the children and proceedings. [In The Interest Of: M.B., Born 10/10/88 J.B., Born 2/14/94 Appeal Of: Pg Publishing Company D/B/A The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PDF] Yahoo News and NEPA News have more.