Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Research Blogs -> New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library

Legal Research

: New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library

More States Put Crime Records Online, Worrying Civil Libertarians

By David Badertscher, PLL

pfont size=2strongSource: /strongemCrime and Justice News, /emDecember 22, 2008./font/p#13; pfont size=2Vermont's searchable online criminal record database, launched last week, is among about 20 operated by various states, reports the Associated Press. The Web sites provide a valuable and time- saving service to employers by allowing them to look up criminal convictions without having to submit written requests and wait for the responses. They're popular: Last month, Florida's site performed 38,755 record checks. /font/p#13; pfont size=2The Internet debut of information historically kept in courthouses in paper files can magnify the harm of clerical errors, expose states to liability for mistakes, and spell new headaches for people who've long since done their time, only to have information about their crime bared anew. 'It's unfortunate in that it threatens what I see as the uniquely American ideal of being able to start over, after you've paid your penance, to go to a new community without the blemish of your crime and starting a new life,' said Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group focused on civil liberties online. /font/p#13; pa href=http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001JI3J8dFgKlL8RCyCXkOnY7q6q-n7w1vtC4xIZIRd7swE8_pVOVSan5_OxgvonAdceLn99scvKvVEzbyXsqqvfFLb8ZhLe-DzNWHv2VOUL6QbIPyVYy_FOtKDlhv-U6eZrZvm97a12hmEPm8FzW4IcokJfWUnznrqHDZSTIPQgPJHuM1wlx3gX5SBEwqYajDGgnsAcLpddWA= shape=rect color=#0000FF target=_blankfont size=2Associated Press/Arizona Republic/font/a/p

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on December 22, 2008 (boomark / email).