TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 13, 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the federal judiciary to grant minors greater privacy in criminal cases by requiring prosecutors and defense lawyers to refer to them in public court filings by pseudonyms rather than by their initials, Reuters reports. The change, according to the department, is designed to better protect the identities of children who are victims and witnesses of crimes, particularly in sexual exploitation cases. A DOJ official said that in recent years, some people accused of exploiting children track court filings and take other measures to uncover the identity of child victims, who they then contact and harass further. The request has been referred to the Judicial Conference's rulemaking bodies.