While probation reports in criminal cases are available to the public without restriction for sixty days after probation is granted, following the sixty-day period the medias access to a probation report is subject to certain restrictions. The court here found that the statutory restriction on public access to probation reports was intended to restore a measure of privacy to the probationer. Thus, if access to a probation report is sought by petition, the subject of the report is entitled to notice and a hearing, and upon weighing the subjects interest in confidentiality against the potential benefit from the reports release, the court has discretion to order personal information to be redacted. The court should then release the remainder of the report.
Case Summaries