Police in Hamilton County have not named the suspect arrested for a school shooting at a Noblesville middle school last Friday.  Today, the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office says it also won’t be releasing information about the male student.  As Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Barbara Brosher explains, Indiana law provides extra protections for juveniles accused of crimes.

Indiana law specifies juveniles should be treated differently than adults who are accused of committing a crime.  While information about adult cases becomes public as soon as charges are filed, that’s not the case for juveniles.

Attorney Joel Wieneke is part of the state’s Juvenile Defense Project. He says information including the juvenile’s name, age, and nature of the offense only becomes public in some situations.

“It would allow the court to share information  when the child has been alleged to have committed an act that would be murder or a felony.  And that would probably be what we would be looking at here.”

Wieneke says that information wouldn’t be available until after prosecutors file a petition in the Noblesville case.