Transparency Laws Let Criminal Records Become Commodities
Every three seconds, a person is arrested in the United States, mostly for low-level incidents like drug possession or disorderly conduct. After that person is booked, they may or may not be charged with a crime by prosecutors, and even if they are charged, the case can end in a dismissal. This should be the end of the story.
When the state funnels police and court data into the private sector, it is participating in a form of surveillance capitalism by turning criminal records into data commodities. This is rooted in two uniquely American contexts. The first is mass incarceration in the United States. One in three Americans have some sort of criminal record, which by extension means there is personal data garnered through arrest and court records for a full third of the US population. The second factor is American transparency law, which, unlike transparency law in other countries, classifies criminal records as public record and thus allows data companies to benefit.
States need to stop participating in the data brokerage industry. Profit-seeking big-data profiling is not a legitimate use of public records policy. In fact, we could use more transparency in this context: to see exactly how much states profit from the sale of personal information about prisoners and criminal defendants, to know where that money comes from, and to show how data brokers use the court records they’ve obtained.
Thats why there needs to be an Amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act to make all Directly Impacted Individuals/Convicted Felons/Returning Citizens From Incarceration a Protected Class Under Legislation. Until then those of us with Criminal Records will Continue to be Expendable Financial Commodities and not Redeemable Human Beings.
Joseph,
Excellent Summary of the Real Facts and the Real Impact!
You Hit the ‘Nail’ on the ‘Head’
A Very Professional and Respected Statement!
Thank You
SeasonED Greetings to All
Joseph…
Also, can Be Classified as A ‘Class’ of ‘Disenfranchised’ Under The Aforementioned Statutory Law
So, Once Again, Thank You for Your Efforts Highlighting Other Passage Ways From Hell!
Excellent article
This needs to sent to every politician in the country . Maybe it will reach the hearts of any honest individuals , if there are any.
This country is doing the same thing it’s accusing China of doing , and bringing sanctions against for. What hypocrisy.
Is it doxing if its the government that’s doing it, especially if it’s under a guise that has been proven to be inaccurate? What if the government doxes an entire segment of the population with the result of causing or attempting to cause, or would be reasonably expected to cause substantial emotional distress to a person?
What if this doxing caused or was proven to cause any person to be in reasonable fear of death or of serious bodily injury?
What if the government knew this doxing would be questioned so this same government proclaims this action to be a civil regulatory scheme “not unlike that of renewing ones driver’s license”?
What if the general population upon discovering the identity of said segment of the population not only approved but strongly supported this civil regulatory scheme?
What we allow the government to do to one, we demand the government do to us.
Thank you for your time
Well, As It Can Be Said and Justified; Verified, and Validated…
Crime Is Commerce…..
In So Many Ways, Shapes, Sizes; Numerically Codified Per Statutory Obligated Law!
SeasonED Greetings to All!
Yes, there are countless websites and so-called background checking sites with information on current and past arrest. I believe many are used for entertainment purposes. I remember I was at work years ago and one of my colleagues was at the local sheriff’s office to get a work-related fingerprint. He brought back a publication he found at the front counter that was printed weekly. It contained of all the arrests and mugshots in the county and surrounding areas. Since it was local many of the employees saw people in the community they knew from high school or just customers or piople they knew or met. I remember how nobody questioned if they were innocent. They made comments and all assumed the worst. An arrest is a decision an officer makes that more than 1/2 of the time is thrown out or not prosecuted by the State Attorney’s office for many reasons. Shaming people and making their lives harder is not a joke and this needs to stop. Sites like mugshots.org highlight celebrities and make fun of their situations. Some even have a place for you to make comments about mugshots. Arrest.org has actual captions like most popular arrests highlighting individuals who have the most hits on their arrest profiles. They even have a map below so you can see where they live. So yes, it has become out of control and destructive because these mugshots can be decades old and possibly never were convictions but whoever sees them will believe the worst. I believe mugshots, criminal records, and offender records should be for police eyes only and only used as a tool in investigations and not as an entertainment site to make fun of people or shame them.
Plus if you read the 1965 Voting Rights Act that was signed by President Lyndon Johnson there are no exclusionary clauses to bar or disenfranchise convicted felons from voting. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-79/pdf/STATUTE-79-Pg437.pdf#page=1
At approximately 4 minutes 20 seconds into this video nit wits start naming schools/parks and other places that are with in 1 mile of this registered citizen. Unbelievable, and i thought i heard it all. Man, i dont think this is ever gonna get any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fAGo5antzI
This. This is why I was reluctant to watch the new Spider-Man movie. The end of the last one, where he was doxxed by the villain, gave me heart palpitations and triggered my anxiety something fierce. For those on the registry, doxxing by vigilantes and the self-righteous is a very real fear.
I posed this subject to both my court ordered therapist and my personal therapist and got two very different responses. The court ordered therapist made comments like “these are outlier cases that get hyped by the biased media.” My personal therapist, who doesn’t make a living off institutionalized shaming of people on the registry, was far more sympathetic, and said my fears are valid.
In today’s world, with cancel culture and the politicizing of every aspect of life, doxxing is a very real problem.
Vindicated
Totally agree. The registry is Doxxing .
This article kept referring to how the registry was necessary to help the victims go forward etc. this being so than the registry is all about retaliation. If it’s retaliation then it’s punishment not to protect anyone especially the victims for they already know who they are.
The Supreme Court only allowed it because they said it was not punishment and protected society. Both totally false as 25 yrs. of history has shown.
Retaliation has never solved any problems only caused more problems, though it sometimes does make the victims feel better.
You cannot have it as retaliation and it not be punishment. Not physically possible. The writer of this article is admitting the registry is for punishment purposes. For that reason it is illegal to be used retroactively.