Criminal Record

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

Proposal:

If the government seals or expunges any part of a person’s record, and that person is later asked on an official form whether they’ve been arrested or committed some crime in the past, then the person should be able to answer as if the sealed or expunged information never existed.

Intent:

Protect the privacy and opportunity of people who were arrested or convicted and later the conviction was overturned or the arrest failed to lead to a conviction, and the judge decided that the associated record should be sealed or expunged. It’s pointless to have a procedure for sealing, expunging, or striking records if people are required to disclose them anyway.

Discussion:

In the United States there are circumstances under which an arrest or conviction is sealed, expunged, or otherwise stricken from the court record. But there are various private companies and government forms that require people to disclose arrests or convictions even if they were sealed, expunged, or stricken from the record, under threat of termination or prosecution if the person omits this important information from the form.

Such requests should be illegal — it’s pointless to have a procedure for sealing, expunging, or striking records if people are required to disclose them anyway. The law should protect people whose records have been sealed or expunged because if the point is to protect the person in some way, then it needs to include a prohibition on requiring someone to disclose something to a company or government agency (other than to the court) about their sealed or expunged or stricken record.

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