Module 3
Victims' Rights

Victim Privacy and Public Access to Courtrooms

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a courtroom may only be closed to the public when the court makes findings which support that:

  • closing the courtroom advances an “overriding interest,”
  • the parameters of the closure are no broader than necessary to protect that interest, and
  • that the court has considered “reasonable alternatives” to closing the courtroom.1

Given this high standard that courts must apply, a complete closure of the courtroom to the public is rare. However, under some circumstances public access may be limited in some way. For example, if there is a sufficient showing that the victim has been intimidated by associates of the defendant, a narrow ruling excluding specific persons from the courtroom is a more likely possibility than complete closure to all members of the public. The use of a pseudonym, as explained on the previous page, is another limitation to public access where that mechanism is available.

Disclaimers and Footnotes

1.  Waller v. Georgia, 467 U.S. 39 (1984).

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