A DIFFERING VIEW: Innocent too often smeared by an arrest
The Rocky Mountain News has scripted an ill-conceived editorial blasting a proposal by a committee of the American Bar Association that would have sealed the records of those who were merely arrested but never convicted of any crime. It claims that this would somehow violate the sacred right of the public “to know” (“Keep court files public,” Aug. 10).
The Rocky believes, erroneously, that “arrests and convictions have already usually been reported in the media and in documents that would not be suppressed under this proposal.”
While this is true of high-profile cases, a minuscule number of total arrests are reported in the media. The vast majority of arrests are never in the public eye. It is only when a potential employer or landlord run people’s criminal justice records in order to screen them for housing or jobs does the arrest show up.
I have represented countless individuals who were wrongfully arrested either based upon their race or because they have engaged in that old off-the-books crime of “disturbing the police.” Charges are dismissed with no convictions yet these completely innocent people are constantly forced to justify themselves to employers and landlords when they have done nothing wrong.
The average employer or landlord rarely bothers to distinguish between an arrest and a conviction. These people simply don’t hire or rent to someone who has a “record” as opposed to someone who is “clean.”
If the government can’t come up with a conviction, there is no justification whatsoever for an innocent citizen to have his or her name smeared with the baggage that a mere arrest carries.
The Rocky is completely off-base in arguing that somehow it is in the public’s interest to pillory innocent people and not automatically have their arrest record sealed when it resulted in no conviction.
David Lane is a Denver attorney.
David,I could not agree with you more.....I was once arrested for a D.U.I. Because I share a the exact name of the true perp.....I even lived on the same street but only one block away....Too much of a coincidence for the police. I was finally cleared of all charges but still had t post one thousand dollar bond and a night in jail....Let me tell you, once you are in jail you are considered guilty....On my record ,it only say;s I was arrested but not cleared of all charges....Those in the know,what can a common man with no knowledge of how to right this wrong do ???????????
Posted by ron on August 14, 2007 01:11 AMAn provable error in your record can be purged but, sad to say, only through legal action. However, if you can submit documentation of the error to the proper source and you can show several attempts at clearing the error from their computer and hard copy files and, suffer injury from their not purging that error, you can sue for the damages you incured from that failure. Check with a lawyer about violations of your due process and equal protection under the law constitutional rights, but I'm sure you have the right to seek redrees from the government.
Posted by Allen Campbell on August 14, 2007 09:06 AMAllen,another great letter full of common sense and good advice.As usual,I begin to think about the system and come up with impertinent questions for those who believe that government is the manifestation of the Ever-Living God on Earth (most of those folks work for the government,particularly law enforcement).Today's question is: If the Founders say that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed,how is it that John Q. Citizen can't get government to make right a wrong it has done without hiring at very considerable expense a government-approved functionary(we know them as lawyers) to navigate a Byzantine maze of arcane procedures and incomprehensible requirements.I should imagine that any mechanical device as user-unfriendly as government would be instantly consigned to the nearest landfill.
Posted by Jimminy on August 14, 2007 05:50 PMThe answer to your question is that government bureaucracies and legislators have lost sight of the fact that they work for us and are paid by us to represent our best interests. Bureaucrats, because the system of administration they contrived allows only time to figure out how it actually works and, the fact that it is incompetent lawyers who graduate to become legislators, bringing with them their expert ability to complicate a rock, which precludes then from being able to remember who elected them.
Of course this self created absurdity prevents them from ever having the ability to understand the arcane procedures and incomprehensible requirements, never mind the obvious need to actually fix it to the point of being able to understand it.
Posted by Allen Campbell on August 16, 2007 11:54 AM