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The impact of criminal records after a person had served the court's
sentence has a bigger weight than in decades past. Years ago, the
general present reputation of the person carried more of a weight. In many
cases, the record did not carry as much of a weight nor was it was it
checked all that often as it is today. Expungement ("sealing") of certain
records after serving of sentence and several years of law abiding
behavior was a help.
The growth of database services for background checks made the background
check affordable to employers, landlords, and others. In some cases, they
can transfer the cost, as well as ensuring consent, to the applicant or
tenant by having the person "buy" for a background check.
MyBackgroundCheck.com is an example of such a service. (This service can
also be used by individuals who want to get an idea what's on the
databases about themselves.)
Another development helped along by the availability of the databases is
the legal liability for "negligent hire/retention" of an employee with a
record if the employee commits a crime later on. A common perception is
that it is "safer" to hire people with "clean records" rather than
weighing all the factors with an applicant. With such a perception, a
"hit" in the background search could be a veto on otherwise qualified
applicants.
After 9-11-2001, many employers have been seeking background checks on
"homeland security" claims. In one notorious case, a corporation sought
background checks on its contractors' employees. The employees and their
union agreed to the checks, believing they were to check only for overt
terrorism activities. No terrorists or proto-terrorists found but some
employees had unexpunged/unpardoned criminal records. They were dismissed.
Although it is easy to blame the background check themselves, a more
significant problem is faith and weight many people give to the data.
First, there is the problem of bad data, mistaken identities, etc. Second,
there is the problem of interpretation of the data. (Many police
departments run credit checks on applicants and will not accept applicants
with poor or low credit scores. The theory seems to be that such people
are prone to corruption or sloppiness. But such credit scores can
also reflect growing up in poverty and having no significant
credit-related transactions except rent and utility bills.)
J.D. Abolins
On Mon, 12 Jul 2004, Edward Kent wrote:
> the "second punishment," i.e. once one had served his sentence for a
> crime he/she should start with a clean slate and no additional
> penalties. I believe this was included in his classic essay, "The Path
> of the Law." There are literally hundreds of bars to this and that
> faced by felons -- particularly in the domain of employment -- in
> addition to voting. And we now have -- is it 11 or 13 million felons so
> barred?
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