A 40-something man I know has the security clearances needed to have done work for the White House and CIA, despite the fact that at age 16 he committed a non-violent crime. Because he was a juvenile, a first-and-only-time offender — and we’re talking about 30 years ago — that court record was expunged.
A 16-year-old in the same hot water today may very well not be so fortunate.
The New York Times this morning offers in layman’s terms what the technologically savvy already know: Once a criminal record is stored digitally and distributed hither and yon, there is no way to later assure the record-holder that it has been expunged as required by law.
That reality has caused at least one court official to refuse to sell such records, although he is apparently in a distinct minority. “How the hell do I expunge anything,” he asks, “if I sell tapes and disks all over the country?”
Excellent question. Of course, the counterpoint is to ask how criminal background checks can be conducted if the companies that conduct them are denied access to records?
Another expert spells out the bottom line:
“To tell someone their record is gone is essentially to lie to them,” she says. “In an electronic age, people should understand that once they have been convicted or arrested that will never go away.”
The Times story recounts several instances where a failure to have minor past offenses expunged — as the law requires — has resulted in lost employment and housing opportunities. It’s difficult to imagine the frustration.
If there’s an easy fix available it is not apparent. Criminal background checks are not going away; if anything, their use will almost certainly increase given the trending of civil liberties in this country. And while records-retention technology is improving, the chances of it becoming commonplace throughout the labyrinth of court systems any time soon would appear slim.
Which leaves only two parties capable of applying any reason to the problem: employers and lawmakers.
Lawmakers should ensure that employers are prohibited from discriminating against applicants as a result of the system’s inability to expunge old records. And the companies that conduct background checks should be pressured severely to do everything humanly possible to improve the process and timeliness of expunging records.
A paid debt to society for a minor offense ought to be just that: paid in full.
