Redemption In a Criminal Background Check World
‘Redemption’ in an Era of Widespread
Criminal Background Checks
by Alfred Blumstein and Kiminori Nakamura
One of the stated goals in President Barack Obama’s crime and law enforcement agenda is to break down employment barriers for people who have a prior criminal record, but who have
stayed clean of further involvement with the criminal justice system. To understand how
many people are affected by some of these barriers, we only need look at the widespread
computerization of criminal history records in the United States.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, more than 80 percent of U.S. employers perform criminal background checks on prospective employees.
1 Add two additional factors to that equation — advances in information
technology and growing concerns about employer liability — and we can begin to understand how complicated the issue of employing ex-offenders has become.
3 comments:
It is not only the crimes you yave committed and paid your dues for that continue to haunt you throughout life; it is crimes you never committed and were never convicted of. An officer can "charge" you with anything. However, once you PROVE YOUR INNOCENCE, your reviewable record still shows the original charges, regardless of how ridiculous and wrong they may have been. They don't get erased. They are still there for the viewing by anyone. When someone looks up your criminal history, the original charges are usually what shows up initially. If they take the time to look further, they can see that these charges were dismissed or ammended, but initially, the original charges are what shows. Further, if you take a deferred, it is almost impossible to get that off your record once you have successfully completed the deferred. I have even been unable to get them to remove records of cases that have been DISMISSED in their entirety. It's a racket designed to screw people over in every way, shape and form possible. It is not a justice system, it is truly and injustice system.
Barney, you are correct! It is time for that to change in this country! It is completely unfair to individuals to have charges for which there was an acquittal or a dismissal appear on anyone's record.
Anyone can make a false charge against an individual. This needs to be stopped.
I agree with Barney. To correct the way cops and DA's do buiusness with there false charges, why doesnt the legislature pass a statute that makes it a class 4 felony for a cop or a DA to make false charges against people and smear the records.djw
Post a Comment